WEXFORD WOMAN Clare Malone has taken “one knock back after the next” and is now facing the prospect of spending Christmas with her two young sons in a refuge or emergency B&B accommodation.
The mother-of-two had to have one lung removed last year as part of her on-going treatment for Aplaysia of the right pulmonary artery and emphysema.
While she is eager to work and had been studying Social Studies at the Wexford Campus of Carlow I.T., she has yet to receive “fit for work” clearance from her surgeon. In the meantime she is forced to get by on the Disability Allowance.
For one adult and two children this amount comes to €241.21.
Having separated from her husband Michael Gallagher five years ago the couple had lived separately for the past five years but remained close and shared in the responsibility for caring for their two children.
Clare was living in a private rented house in Murrintown up until the end of the summer. Michael became ill in September and Clare decided to move in with him and their children at his council owned home in Ard Uisce, Whiterock Hill, to care for him.
Michael’s condition deteriorated unexpectedly and he passed away from pneumonia ten days after he was initially hospitalised.
“We were all in shock. It took me eight days to get him buried and then I called the council to tell them what had happened and that I was in the house with the kids,” she said.
She continued: “I realise that I can’t stay here, but I’ve nowhere else to go straight away. I really just need a grace period to get the money together for a deposit on another place. The council have told me that I have two weeks, four weeks tops. After that we will be placed in emergency accommodation if I don’t have anywhere else to go.”
She continued: “If I could just stay here until Christmas it would help the children. They’ve just lost their dad and now we’re facing this.”
Ms Malone cites the “impossible rent allowance barrier” as the biggest stumbling block.
“The barrier is €121.41 per week for a person with two children. That means that I have to find somewhere that isn’t anymore than that a week if I am to get the rent allowance.”
However, according to Ms Malone there are no houses available locally for less than €125 per week.
“One bedroom apartments are going for €125 per week, that’s even out of our reach. Even if we could get that it wouldn’t be right to have us all sleeping in the one bedroom.
It is proposed that the family will be moved into temporary emergency accommodation.
“We can’t even be guaranteed that we will be kept in the same B&B for the duration. I have oxygen equipment that I will need to drag with me each time we are moved.”
Her family relocated to New Zealand during the recession, so she has no support locally.
“I never wanted to be in this situation. I’d love to be able to work right now. I’ve just taken one knock after the next; I never thought that I would be made homeless.”