Murphy labelled the ‘minister for appearances’
HOUSING Minister Eoghan Murphy has been labelled the ‘minister for appearances’ in the wake of a controversy over homelessness statistics.
Mr Murphy denied this week that his department was trying to keep the latest homeless statistics, for March, below 10,000 by reclassifying 600 people in state accommodation.
On Thursday, it was revealed that a leaked memo from Louth County Council told its councillors that the Housing Department did not want the inclusion in the monthly figures of people whom the council deemed to be homeless.
Mr Murphy said a number of councils had wrongly categorised people in local authorityowned or leased housing stock as being in emergency accommodation. As a result, 600 were removed from the homeless list.
Independent Dublin City Councillor Mannix Flynn told the Irish Mail on Sunday that the Housing Minister was more concerned with style than substance. He said Mr Murphy was ‘desperate for popularity’.
‘He is the minister for appearances. His language, his whole stand is out of step with the reality of what is going on.
‘I nicknamed him the minister for rolled-up sleeves and clipped beards.
‘He is an ambitious individual but is never on the ground.’
A spokesman for the Housing Minister said: ‘Minister Murphy isn’t interested in comments that do nothing to solve this homeless crisis.
‘Our focus must be on our people in emergency accommodation and getting them into homes.’