Homeless couple sleeping in car on side of road, court told

Pair seek emergency married accommodation from council

High Court heard David Lawrence, 32, and his wife Caroline, 29, had each been offered separate individual hostel accommodation but had turned it down as unsuitable on the basis she was his carer because of health issues.

A homeless couple are sleeping in their car on the roads of Kildare and are seeking emergency married accommodation from the county council, a High Court judge was told on Wednesday.

Mr Justice Rory Mulcahy heard David Lawrence, 32, and his wife Caroline, 29, had each been offered separate individual hostel accommodation but had turned it down as unsuitable on the basis she was his carer because of health issues.

Colm O’Dwyer, for the Lawrences, said the couple had been made homeless on December 29 and been led to believe Kildare County Council had no accommodation available for married couples. He said if they had children, the situation would be different for them.

Judge Mulcahy was told when Mr Lawrence was first offered individual accommodation, he had not accepted it because he needed the care of his wife due to health conditions, including a lung infection as a result of having to sleep every night in their car, which they parked in various places on the roads of Kildare.

He had also been worried for the safety of his wife and the dangers associated with her sleeping alone in the car, as well as requiring her assistance as his carer. She had later been offered individual hostel accommodation but had turned it down on the need to be with her husband.

The couple, helped legally by free legal aid, brought an ex parte application seeking an order quashing a December 29 council decision refusing to offer them emergency accommodation together as a married couple.

Both stated in written evidence they were members of the Travelling community and had been involved in a first tenancy which ended because the landlord had sold the property. They claimed to have been forced out of a second tenancy when the landlord doubled the rent.

Mr O’Dwyer said the couple did not want to be separated in different hostels and claimed the local authority had failed to have regard to the dependency of Mr Lawrence on his wife in light of his medical needs and her safety sleeping in a car on her own.

He said the couple had for some time shared accommodation at a Longford halting site with Mr Lawrence’s brother-in-law, but they had to leave as their presence had been considered a breach of his tenancy agreement and he could himself have been threatened with eviction.

Judge Mulcahy said the council had offered both of the Lawrences accommodation and he felt the county council may wish to have information placed before the court.

“I feel the council should be put on notice of this application and I will give you leave to bring a new application before the court next Wednesday on notice to Kildare County Council,” Judge Mulcahy said.