Case of woman sleeping under skip bag in Cork 'reflects harsh reality of homelessness'

Tánaiste and homelessness campaigners respond to case of a woman found sleeping under a bag near a vacant council house

Cork City Council workers discovered that a woman had been sleeping under a skip bag in the Friar’s Walk area of the city, just metres from where a council bungalow has been lying vacant for almost a year. 

The discovery of a woman sleeping rough under a Skippo waste bag is a sad reflection of the harsh reality of life on the streets, campaigners working on the frontline of homelessness have said. 

The Irish Examiner reported  on Friday how the woman was found in the Friar’s Walk area of the city just metres from a council home which has been vacant for almost a year.

Tánaiste Micheál Martin described the case as “terrible” but insisted the government has provided funding for wraparound homeless services, and funding to local authorities to refurbish or repair vacant council homes and return them to use quickly.

“The council house should not have been empty,” he told PJ Coogan on Cork’s 96FM. 

The council has plenty of money to refurbish those houses. There are thousands of voids [empty houses] that have been brought back into use now because of a particular initiative we took on that.

“I don’t know what the circumstances are in relation to the house, but I do know homelessness is complex. There can be many issues why people sleep on the streets.

“Sometimes people don’t want to go into the shelters because they feel maybe they are not as secure as they might want, or they might have their own personal preference.

“But I think it’s terrible, and I am not in any way saying otherwise, but there are complex reasons why this happens. 

“It is terrible and very sad that something like this should happen but the resources are there. Someone shouldn’t have to sleep on the street.”

Cork Simon’s Paul Sheehan said the case reflects the tragic reality for far too many people today, whose plight has not been discussed enough during the general election campaign.

He said there isn’t enough emergency accommodation for everyone who needs it. He added: 

We are consistently told that housing and homelessness is a top priority but clearly not if you have got somebody who is just trying to stay safe and secure as possible while sleeping on the streets.

Recent figures from Cork Simon showed that its outreach team met 577 men and women sleeping rough in 2023 — a 39% increase compared to 2022.

The team met an average of 30 people per night — a staggering 135% increase. One in five rough sleepers were women. It is now working to support the woman at the centre of this case.

Figures released this week showed that rents in Cork City rose more than 10% year on year to an average of €2,077 by the end of September, putting the average city rent for a year at close to €25,000.

Mr Sheehan said the cost of housing is far too high for a single adult stuck in an emergency shelter.

“You have no hope of getting out,” he said.

“A route out in the past would’ve been the private rented sector, but that is beyond anybody’s reach and you could be waiting for affordable housing for a long time to come.

“There is a severe shortage of housing but there is an even more severe shortage of one-bedroom housing.

“There needs to be a concerted effort to get to grips with the problems in the housing system.”