Press Statement: Ruth Coppinger TD, (Socialist Party) 9th July 2014 Only 6 cases received by Burton’s initiative after pledge to ‘prevent families becoming homeless’ · Minister must confirm that Threshold service is funded and has sufficient facilities · Campaign a ‘cynical stunt to present herself in better light during leadership contest and after local/By election disaster’ Socialist Party TD for Dublin West Ruth Coppinger said today that only 6 families received increased rent supplement to prevent them from becoming homeless (SEE PQ BELOW) , in a new much-publicised initiative with Threshold by the Minster. She said that this showed that the pledge by Minister Joan Burton was nothing more than a ‘cynical stunt’ and questioned whether the Threshold emergency phone line was properly funded: “In response to a Parliamentary Question I put to the Minister, she replied that only 6 families got an increase in rent supplement since the scheme was introduced, and only 20 cases in total had been referred to her department from Threshold in relation to it. “I get numerous calls every day from people in the same situation. In the last couple of days we received more than 10 calls, so the idea that there can only be 20 cases since it was launched over 3 weeks ago doesn’t add up. “This shows one of either two things: either the service is not advertised and is underfunded and not able to handle the calls; or that its launch was a cynical stunt by the Minister to try to reclaim some credibility on the issue and present herself in a better light during the leadership contest after Labour got hammered in the May elections. “Either way, it shows that the scheme is not ‘preventing families from becoming homeless’. There is a homeless emergency in this country, and yet today we have the main political parties wasting Dail time discussing cancelled gigs rather than deal with the situation. “If the Minister was serious about dealing with this she would introduce an emergency ban on economic evictions through rent hikes rather than have people living in the fear of homelessness.”
Posted on: Wed, 09 Jul 2014 15:47:10 +0000
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