The real story of why this man cannot find a home to rent
Court bail conditions barred him from entire county
MEET Gerard Tier. He’s a homeless father of two whose plight has been highlighted in the media and even raised in the Dáil.
But what was not revealed was that Tier, formerly of Abhainn Glas, Edgeworthstown, Co. Longford, left his most recent family home because a High Court bail order banned him from Co. Longford.
In October 2013, Tier – who has a number of previous convictions including one for waving an air pistol around and being involved in a high-speed chase with gardaí – was charged with assault and threatening to kill a man in the housing estate where he was then living. He was released on High Court bail, but ordered to stay out of Longford.
Tier’s High Court bail conditions were lifted last month after a judge directed a ‘not guilty’ verdict on the three charges he was facing.
In March 2014, Tier appeared in a newspaper article detailing how he, his partner and two young children had been living in hotel accommodation for six months.
‘I just want a steady home for my family where we can settle down and the kids can go to school,’ he said at the time. ‘We are asking for someone to take rent allowance and give us a chance.’
Tier’s case was later mention by TD Joe Higgins in the Dáil. Mr Higgins said: ‘ Gerard Tier with his partner and two young children were forced to go from hotel to hotel under the so-called homeless programme and, bravely, had to go public to try to get some measure of justice and urgent action from the Government.’
The circumstances leading up to his family being made homeless was not mentioned in any of the articles in which he featured.
In the Northside People newspaper it was claimed the family had lived in Longford until October 2013 but became homeless due to ‘personal circumstances’.
The article added that the family originally stayed with family in Dublin but had to leave due to overcrowding. Tier said at the time: ‘We tried to find somewhere to rent but no one would accept rent allowance.’
Tier, formerly of Casement Drive, Finglas, Dublin, has a number of previous convictions including one which involved a high-speed chase with gardaí.
In 2009 he was seen waving around an air pistol, leading to the car chase. Tier was arrested after gardaí apprehended him when he moved to put his hands down the front of his tracksuit bottoms apprently to pull out the pistol.
Gardaí did not know at the time what type of weapon he had, but they later discovered it was a black air pistol, rather than a handgun.
Tier’s car initially failed to stop for gardaí when they indicated for him to pull over on Kildonan Road in Finglas on February 2. He then led gardaí on a car chase, which ended when he jumped from the car and tried to enter a house.
Tier did not respond to repeated requests for a comment. His mother Barbara told the Irish Mail on Sunday she would pass on our messages, adding, ‘Not sure if he will be up for it as he has been through the mill.’
Meanwhile, sources have told the MoS there has been a ‘significant increase’ in people calling to a number of council offices claiming to be homeless in order to secure a higher place on the social housing waiting list.
A number of the claims have been identified as ‘bogus’.
‘The Government won’t acknowledge homelessness is not being tackled,’ the source, who works in the area of social housing, revealed.
‘As such, orders were given that 50% of the vacant houses are for the homeless automatically in Dublin. But this has led to the waiting list being ignored.’
Alice Leahy of homeless charity Trust, said she had heard similar stories. ‘We’ve heard that too, and we’ve heard that from people.
‘I think the Dublin county councils are working very hard and I feel sorry for people working in the housing department. There’s something not right about any of this.’
Dublin City Council said: ‘All persons presenting as homeless must undergo a statutory assessment to assess the full range of circumstances leading to the experience of homelessness and all service users are strongly encouraged to consider a wide range of housing options in so far as they are available.’
Convictions for waving an air pistol around ‘No-one would accept rent allowance’