Apollo House activists defy court with sit-in

Activists have formed a human chain around Apollo House as they defy a High Court order to vacate the premises.

The Home Sweet Home group, which has been occupying the vacant office block in Dublin to house the homeless since December 15, had until noon yesterday to leave the building.

An application by the occupiers to remain in Apollo House for one more week due to the unsuitability of alternative accommodation, was dismissed by Mr Justice Paul Gilligan yesterday.

He said the court “could not get involved in a dispute over the standard of alternative accommodation”.

Any issue about the quality of accommodation for homeless people was “a matter for government” and “not one for the courts”, the judge said.

Activists from Home Sweet Home spent seven hours in a meeting with Housing Minister Simon Coveney last Friday.

In a Home Sweet Home statement issued last night, it was claimed that former residents of Apollo House were forced to return there because alternative accommodation was unsuitable.

“Home Sweet Home is defying the High Court order as the conditions of our vacation have not been met. Yesterday eight residents returned to Apollo House citing unsuitable conditions in the alternative accommodation offered to them.

“One resident reported that he was offered a room with blood on the walls and mattress, and syringes on the floor. This is not appropriate accommodation,” said a campaign spokesperson. There are now 18 remaining residents in Apollo House.

Mazars was appointed by Nama as receivers to the building last June.

Yesterday, counsel for the receivers said they are sensitive to the plight of the homeless and had been in contact with the Dublin Region Homeless Executive and the Peter McVerry Trust, both of whom were satisfied there were places available for all those in Apollo House last night.

However, a spokesperson for the Home Sweet Home group said: “We refuse to vacate Apollo House when our residents are not being appropriately accommodated.”

Earlier, the Department of Housing had issued a statement encouraging activists to engage with homeless services.

“In relation to Apollo house, the minister would encourage the representatives of the Home Sweet Home campaign to continue to engage with the Peter McVerry Trust and Dublin City Council with a view to making arrangements for the transition of people currently in Apollo House to alternative suitable accommodation with appropriate supports,” said a spokesperson for the department.

Pat Doyle, the CEO at Peter McVerry Trust, said that since December 22, it had assessed 85 people — more than twice the capacity of Apollo House — and that by the court deadline, at which point Peter McVerry Trust staff vacated Apollo House — it had re-accommodated 76 people.

The case will return before Mr Justice Gilligan in the High Court this morning.