Family of eight split up as no accommodation available

A homeless family, including six children aged from 22 months to 11 years, had to be split up on Saturday night as no emergency accommodation was available.

Colleen and John McDonagh, from Tallaght, Co Dublin, who have been homeless since last Monday, have been placed in hotels in Dún Laoghaire, Navan in Co Meath and Naas in Co Kildare, as well as a hostel in Dublin city.

On Saturday night, by 9pm, no hotel room was found by the Focus Ireland Homeless Action Team, and Mrs McDonagh was advised to find somewhere safe for her children. "I knew this would happen on Saturday with the all-Ireland replay on," she said last night. "I had to call around and the kids stayed with friends in Clondalkin, Tallaght and Newcastle. It was about 10pm by the time we had them in everywhere. My little boy [Gerard (4)] was with a friend and she says he was crying all night. It's just not right this is happening."

Last night they were placed in a B&B in Ashbourne, Co Meath. "I'm not sure how the traffic will be on the M50 for getting them back to Tallaght for school. We'll have to leave about 7.30am I think, and then John will have to take the van for work," said Mrs McDonagh.

The house which the family had rented for five years, for €1,000 a month, was recently sold. The landlord had let them stay six weeks beyond the date they were to leave.