Blaming those in need is not a solution
THE case of Margaret Cash, the Dublin mother of seven who slept in Tallaght Garda Station last week when the homeless family could not secure accommodation, has been a widespread source of debate in the past week.
The image of her children huddled up asleep on the station’s waiting room benches was a harrowing sight and you would have to have a heart of stone not to feel for them.
Since she hit the headlines, and said that the State has failed to house her and her children, she has been the target of much abuse and criticism for her parenting and lifestyle choices which have only served to distract from the issue at heart.
Slating the woman for her personal choices, and situations where she may have had no control over, does not change the fact that no child in this country should be sleeping on a garda station bench.
There seems to be a disturbing view that by helping this family and the many others like them, society is somehow enabling them to ‘ play the system’.
This is a load of rubbish, because, regardless of whether a parent can afford to house a child or not, that child still needs to be accommodated.
Nobody should have the view that they should sink or swim alone, and when there are children involved, particularly, the State has a duty of care to them.
It is understood that Ms Cash has been on a social housing list for 11 years. If this is true and she has not been housed in all that time then the system is even worse than many of us thought.
While she has taken plenty of abuse since she went public after that night, what do the critics say about the dozens of other families in Dublin alone who also presented to garda stations?
They are not all playing the system or creaming off the State. If anybody had any sort of means to pay for suitable accommodation, of course they would secure it privately for the sake of their children rather than having the face the shame of presenting as homeless in a garda station.
We all know the problems with the lack of housing, extortionate rents and a list of housing applicants which is growing far more rapidly than properties can be sourced or built.
Blaming those in need, however, is never going to be a solution.