{"id":453052,"date":"2026-05-17T05:54:09","date_gmt":"2026-05-17T05:54:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/453052\/"},"modified":"2026-05-17T05:54:09","modified_gmt":"2026-05-17T05:54:09","slug":"powerful-and-heartbreaking-a-couch-is-what-irelands-homeless-children-say-they-want-most-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/453052\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Powerful and heartbreaking\u2019: A couch is what Ireland\u2019s homeless children say they want most \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sophie* (11) remembers the day her family lost their Dublin<\/a> home<\/a>. She recalls feeling sad at leaving friends she had played with \u201call the time\u201d. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe were outside playing on my scooter while my mam was talking to the girl, giving the keys back. We just walked out because all our stuff was already moved into my granny\u2019s,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

She had liked living there, she says. \u201cIt was big. There was two bedrooms. We had a kitchen, a livingroom.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now their situation is very different: they share one room with an adjoining bathroom. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt is small,\u201d says Sophie. \u201cThere\u2019s a bunk bed with a double bed on the bottom and a single bed on the top. I share the bed on the bottom with my mam.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sophie has her own drawer; her brother has one too.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe has about 50 billion teddies in his drawer and then all his teddies go in my drawer, and then my drawer is messy and it\u2019s so annoying.<\/p>\n

\u201cThen we have just the fridge and then we have a window.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Sophie:Sophie: ‘I do worry because I get stressed so I can\u2019t imagine how stressed [my mam] feels.’ Photograph: Enda O’Dowd <\/p>\n

The family lost their home almost a year ago. They have been in two emergency accommodations ever since. <\/p>\n

Sophie says the first was \u201creally, like, dirty\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was like bugs everywhere … and my mam started crying. She was just so emotional,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

Her mother decided they were not staying there.<\/p>\n

\u201cI do worry because I get stressed so I can\u2019t imagine how stressed she feels,\u201d says Sophie.<\/p>\n

The 20-room hotel they now live in has strict rules; children must be quiet and not run around. Staff \u201cshout\u201d at the children, says Sophie. Noise at night from other rooms interrupts her sleep. <\/p>\n

Sophie\u2019s is not a unique story. She is one of 5,571 homeless children, according to latest data published<\/a> by the Department of Housing. The number of children in homelessness has increased by almost 20 per cent in a year.<\/p>\n

In advance of the department publishing next month its first Child and Family Homelessness Action Plan \u2013 aimed at addressing the rising number of children in emergency accommodation \u2013 Sophie is one of three children interviewed by The Irish Times with the support of homeless charity Focus Ireland. <\/p>\n

\"Sophie,Sophie, one of 4,118 homeless children in Dublin, is a member of Focus Ireland\u2019s children and youth panels. Photograph: Enda O’Dowd <\/p>\n

This reporter first interviewed homeless children in November 2014 when there were far fewer children without homes: 680 children in 307 families were homeless in Dublin at the time. The years-long housing crisis has only exacerbated the problem.<\/p>\n

Those interviews, also in with the charity\u2019s support, were raised in the D\u00e1il by then leader of the opposition, now Taoiseach Miche\u00e1l Martin. The interviews, he said at the time, \u201claid bare an appalling and shameful scandal in present day Ireland\u201d.<\/p>\n

Since then, the number of homeless children in Dublin has increased by 505 per cent, to 4,118. They are in 1,866 families.<\/p>\n

Sophie is a member of Focus Ireland\u2019s children and youth panels. Established a year ago \u201cto amplify the voice of the homeless child\u201d, the five panels, covering separate age groups, provide a forum for those aged zero to 26 years to speak about their conditions and needs in homelessness. <\/p>\n

[\u00a0Child homelessness up by 19% since last year, new figures showOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

She says she would like \u201cmore space\u201d to store belongings, a desk to do her homework and somewhere for \u201cbigger kids\u201d to hang out and where she could \u201cget some peace\u201d. <\/p>\n

A fold-out camping chair serves as her desk for homework. <\/p>\n

\u201cAll my books are just falling everywhere. There is no table … It is very hard,\u201d says Sophie.<\/p>\n

The family eat breakfast sitting on the bed in their room. Only occasionally do they use the kitchen or hotel diningroom for dinner. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe children get shouted at,\u201d says Sophie\u2019s mother. \u201cI dread going back there for dinner.\u201d<\/p>\n

She says she tells staff: \u201cDon\u2019t rush them. We are anxious living here and you are making it worse.\u201d But she fears \u201crepercussions\u201d if she speaks up too much. \u201cI don\u2019t want to make life harder.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asked if she knows when the family will receive a home, Sophie says: \u201cMy mam said it would be a month and it has been almost a year. I know she is trying really hard to get us a house. It makes me a bit worried.\u201d<\/p>\n

She looks forward to having a home of their own. <\/p>\n

\u201cI want to decorate my room. I am getting my cousin and my other friend to come over and help me,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

Another child in homeless accommodation shares a similar story.<\/p>\n

Demb\u00e9l\u00e9* (14), on Focus Ireland\u2019s panel for 12- to 18-year-olds, has lived in Dublin city-centre emergency accommodation with his three siblings and parents for more than two years.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have two rooms and a kitchen that we all \u2013 all the families \u2013 share,\u201d he says. <\/p>\n

Children are not allowed in the kitchen and cannot be left alone in bedrooms. <\/p>\n

\u201cI have a little baby sister that whenever my mum cooks we \u2013 me and my sister \u2013 we have to take care of her,\u201d he says. \u201cI would prefer better and bigger rooms. We need more space for our stuff. I share a room with younger siblings. It is a lot annoying, I want peace, but they just scream a lot. It is stressful.\u201d<\/p>\n

He does not know when the family will find a home. He says his parents are looking but it will be \u201cvery hard\u201d to find a house for six people.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Accommodation crisis pushes \u2018destitute children closer to sleeping on Dublin streets\u2019Opens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is stressful for them. My little brother, he wants to go outside to play, but most of the time my parents have no time to go with him to the playroom and he can\u2019t [be there] alone. He is seven,\u201d says Demb\u00e9l\u00e9.<\/p>\n

They cannot have friends to visit and he says it is \u201cboring\u201d for his younger siblings; they cannot stay in the room for the whole day especially during the summer holidays. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt is going to be very boring for them,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

A home would mean Demb\u00e9l\u00e9 could have a pet cat. <\/p>\n

\u201cThey are just really lovely and my friends, they all have cats,\u201d he says. <\/p>\n

I would wake up at six in the morning to go to school. I had to take two buses. So I was really tired in school. I remember once I fell asleep in science and I actually got in trouble for it<\/p>\n

\u2014 \u00a0Anna<\/p>\n

\u201cFor my family, it would mean a lot for us. We would have more facilities to do more stuff and it would be more peaceful, more space.\u201d<\/p>\n

Anna* (16) from west Dublin, was homeless for three years with her mother and two younger brothers until last summer. She still participates in Focus Ireland\u2019s 12s-18s panel.<\/p>\n

Her family moved four times between various emergency accommodations. <\/p>\n

\u201cAt first I didn\u2019t really mind it, but sometimes it would make me embarrassed because none of my friends or schoolfriends knew,\u201d she says of the fact that they were homeless.<\/p>\n

Their first accommodation was a long distance from her school and she struggled to sleep at night.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere were people banging doors, yelling and stuff like that. I was having nightmares and panic attacks,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would wake up at six in the morning to go to school. I had to take two buses. So I was really tired in school. I remember once I fell asleep in science and I actually got in trouble for it.\u201d <\/p>\n

The family had to share a bedroom and book time slots to use kitchens. Some of their items were stolen occasionally. <\/p>\n

\u201cAt weekends my mum would try to take our mind off it a little bit. We would go to town and shop around, eat and then come back \u2013 maybe do stuff we hadn\u2019t done, like the Guinness factory or go to Cork,\u201d says Anna.<\/p>\n

She says she experienced overwhelming anxiety from being homeless \u2013 something that still affects her. <\/p>\n

\u201cI closed down myself. I didn\u2019t want to like bother [my mother] with my stuff because I saw she had her own problems,\u201d she says. \u201cI would sometimes hear her crying at night so I kept everything to myself, which now has an effect on me because if I am stressed I start having a panic attack.\u201d<\/p>\n

She recalls the feeling when her mother received a call telling her the family had been allocated a house <\/p>\n

\u201cThat moment made her really happy. She was back to smiling. You saw the little light in her start coming back,\u201d says Anna.<\/p>\n

Things are \u201creally good\u201d now, she says; she has her own room, she can have friends over and bring people in. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt is quiet so I fall asleep easily \u2013 I can think about the future,\u201d she says. <\/p>\n

\u201cHomelessness is really horrible and I wouldn\u2019t wish this on anyone.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Focus Ireland panels have helped these children while providing important feedback for both the charity and to feed into Government policy, says Amy Canavan, child support worker with the charity\u2019s family homeless action team (HAT). <\/p>\n

\u201cWith the opportunity to communicate their views and needs, the message to them is: \u2018You are valued. You are important. What you say matters.\u2019 It gives them some sense of agency in a situation where they can feel very helpless,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

Some of the young people presented at the Department of Housing during on the forthcoming Child and Family Homelessness Action Plan.<\/p>\n

HAT leader Hester Rodenhuis found it \u201cpowerful and heartbreaking\u201d that many children, when asked what they wanted in their eventual home, said: \u201cA couch.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThey don\u2019t have their own couch in a hotel room. A couch represents a nice evening with family, in a room that is not a bedroom,\u201d says Rodenhuis.<\/p>\n

Among things the children wanted in homeless accommodation were staff that didn\u2019t shout at them, space for older children to hang out, better quality beds and bedsheets and more child-support workers. <\/p>\n

Focus Ireland says these are \u201cvery basic\u201d demands. <\/p>\n

Families who are \u201clong-term homeless\u201d should be prioritised for social housing and sufficient social homes should meet the needs of children with additional needs and disabilities, the charity says.<\/p>\n

A spokesman for the Department of Housing said addressing family homelessness was a \u201ckey priority\u201d for Government. <\/p>\n

The new action plan would \u201cdrive the continued focus on preventing children and families entering emergency accommodation, providing enhanced supports for children experiencing homelessness, as well as measures to accelerate exits and reduce the time spent by families in emergency accommodation\u201d, it said.<\/p>\n

A spokeswoman for the Dublin Region Homeless Executive \u2013 the co-ordinated service responding to homelessness across Dublin\u2019s four local authorities \u2013 said it had last year adopted a new homeless action plan, which included \u201cspecific actions to ensure that children in emergency accommodation receive appropriate supports and services\u201d. <\/p>\n

This included collaboration with the Health Service Executive\u2019s social inclusion teams on a \u201cfamilies first\u201d programme, which \u201cproposes a dedicated, multidisciplinary team to deliver co-ordinated, wraparound supports for families experiencing homelessness\u201d across Dublin. <\/p>\n

Asked for her thoughts on taking part in the children\u2019s panel, Sophie says it is \u201cfun\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s also good I am doing it,\u201d she says, as she believes it will help other homeless children \u201cbecause they will probably also want more space and to not be given out to [by hotel staff] for just talking.\u201d <\/p>\n

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