Drug dealers and users taking over homes of ‘powerless’ people in Dublin, McVerry says

There are many cases in Dublin of properties rented to vulnerable people being taken over by drug dealers and users, Fr Peter McVerry has said.

Gardaí and the Dublin Regional Homeless Executive are investigating one such case after a man, Tony Dempsey (28), was found dead after being assaulted at a flat used for drug taking in Kevin Barry House, Dublin 7, last week.

A woman who had previously been homeless was housed in the property by the Peter McVerry Trust under the Housing First policy, which provides homes to rough sleepers or those in long-term homeless services. In recent months the tenancy had broken down, with the flat being used by a group of people to take drugs, leading local residents to make several complaints to Dublin City Council.

Fr McVerry told Newstalk Breakfast that the trust was subject to the same restrictions as other landlords and could not “just throw out” a person if there were antisocial activities going on in the home. He said the tenant had been asked to move from the Dublin 7 flat but had refused and the trust had been in the process of issuing eviction proceedings around the time of Mr Dempsey’s death.

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He said there were similar cases in Ballymun and Tallaght where “drug dealers take over” and effectively keep the occupants hostage.

“The tenant is powerless and that’s an issue that needs to be addressed,” he said.

It was terrifying for tenants who lose control of their own home, Fr McVerry added. “It is difficult to address that issue.”

The trust, which is carrying out its own review into the Kevin Barry House tenancy, has said its staff had visited the property daily prior to the discovery of the body of Mr Dempsey, who was believed to have been dead for up to a week before being found, but had seen “no indication or evidence that someone was deceased at the property or in the vicinity”.

The charity had placed the woman into the ground-floor property more than 18 months ago, as part of an agreement with the city council. It is understood in recent months staff had been intensively engaging in the case after it became clear the woman had lost control of the property. There is no suggestion she was involved in the man’s death.

A council spokesman said the tenant had been issued verbal and written warnings over the problems in the flat. He said that since July, staff in the Peter McVerry Trust had been “actively encouraging the tenant to surrender the tenancy with a view to commencing a new tenancy on a fresh footing”.

Gardaí are continuing to investigate the death of Mr Dempsey, but no arrests have yet been made. A number of people who had been visiting the flat have been identified.