peter
“Our parents tell us we’re on an adventure to find a new home. Our old landlord sold our house so we’re trying to find another home, but it takes time because they’re very expensive. We’re living in a “hotel” (emergency accommodation) for around nine months now. This hotel has weird rules. We can’t play or talk to the other kids in the hotel, and every morning somebody knocks on the door to make sure we made our beds and everything is clean. There is no place to go outside to play so we usually just stay inside. The hotel is far from school so we have to wake up very early in the morning and we don’t get back till very late.”
“When we left the house we actually had to hand the keys back to the landlord, and in order to get a room in the “hotel” we had to take our luggage and wait on the street to show we were homeless. This is not an easy thing to do with three children. They have no proper childhood. He wanted a bike from Santa but there is nowhere to keep it. I know other families whose children are suffering from depression with the stress of being evicted and living in “hotels”. I don’t want that for my children. We love each other deeply, but we can’t keep living like this.”
‘Humans of the Election’ is a collaboration with the Newstalk 106-108 FM, highlighting the real people behind the issues we face in Ireland today (3/7).