Homeless charity founder Fr Peter McVerry has revealed how drug dealers are taking over properties in the capital with victims left feeling “trapped and powerless.”
Gangsters threaten and target people as they control homes owned by Dublin City Council to store and sell their dodgy gear.
Fr McVerry says that the death of Tony Dempsey last week at a flat in Dublin managed by his charity was the first such case they had come across relating to their services.
But he explained that he is aware of other cases in both Ballymun and Tallaght.
Fr McVerry told the Irish Mirror: “They’re usually local authority tenants living on their own who are being threatened.
“If they don’t allow them to use the flats, they’re trashed up, or they assault the person as they go out to the shop.
“It’s not a huge issue but horrific for the person involved who is also utterly powerless to do anything, they don’t feel like they can complain to the police or to the city council because it can take a long time to get somebody rehoused.
“We’re not talking about homeless people now, we’re talking about the elderly or people living on their own living in local authority accommodation.
“I know of it happening in one similar situation in Ballymun. And there was a report in Tallaght about 18 months ago and they highlighted the fact that this wasn’t an isolated problem.
“The case in Ballymun went on for ages.
“And the reality is it’s very difficult to get a transfer in Dublin City Council because they don’t have the extra accommodation. So people feel absolutely trapped and powerless.”
A murder investigation is continuing into the death of 28-year-old Mr Dempsey.
He was beaten to death at a ground floor flat in Kevin Barry House, Coleraine Street in Dublin’s north inner city.
His remains lay there for up to a week before gardai made the discovery following complaints from others in the complex about the smell.
The flat is managed by the Peter McVerry Trust charity who had placed a tenant there some 18 months ago.
But the tenant had lost control of the flat with dealers and addicts coming and going.
Furious residents had been raising concerns about this particular property for over a year, branding it a “drugs den”.
Fr McVerry — who passed his condolences onto Mr Dempsey’s family — told us: “We’ve never had this issue before.
“We house hundreds of people including those who have multiple problems but we’ve never had this issue.”
The Peter McVerry Trust were in the process of seeking to help to move the woman to another property they managed — and Fr McVerry insisted that the woman would not have been made homeless, adding: “We never evict anyone into homelessness.
“We’re not in the business of making people homeless. When someone comes into our service, they’re with us for life.”
Asked about what his understanding of the situation was at the flat where Mr Dempsey died, Fr McVerry said: “There’s a Garda report, we’re doing a report and Dublin City Council are doing a report so I am going to wait for those reports before I make any further comment on that.”READ NEXT:
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