Eoghan Murphy ‘not hiding’ from Dublin City Council

Minister for Housing Eoghan Murphy said he had been "very unfairly" treated by Lord Mayor of Dublin Mícheál Mac Donncha after he was sharply criticised for failing to attend Monday's Dublin City Council meeting.

Mr Mac Donncha, a Sinn Féin councillor, said he had in June invited Mr Murphy to attend this month’s council meeting to discuss homelessness and the housing crisis.

He said he was disappointed Mr Murphy had decided not to attend the meeting, “particularly when we have just had a summer during which the housing crisis worsened”.

During the council meeting a number of councillors accused Mr Murphy, formerly a member of the local authority, of being dismissive of their role in addressing the housing crisis.

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Independent councillor Christy Burke said Mr Murphy's failure to attend the meeting was "an absolute disgrace". He accused the Minister of treating the council with "contempt", "ignorance" and "arrogance".

Special meeting

Mr Murphy said an invitation to attend the meeting had not formally been made to his department, but had been extended through Fine Gael councillor Paddy McCartan, and he had accepted.

Mr Murphy said he had then suggested a special meeting solely to deal with the issues of housing and homelessness be held, and he was told this was acceptable.

Mr Mac Donncha’s criticism had taken him by surprise and had come “completely out of nowhere”, he said. “I think he’s treated me very unfairly”. He said he was not “hiding” from or trying to avoid the council – “quite the opposite”.

Mr McCartan did tell councillors on Monday night that Mr Murphy was prepared to meet them this month.

“There is no doubting the commitment of Minister Murphy as a former member of this council to deal with the problem,” Mr McCartan said. “If there is an emergency meeting of the council with nothing else on the agenda except the review of Rebuilding Ireland, he is prepared to come into the council in September ... To suggest there is a lack of commitment to engage with Dublin City Council is untrue.”

Mr Murphy has summoned the chief executives of all 31 local authorities along with their housing department personnel to an emergency summit on homelessness in the Custom House on Friday.

Local authorities are being asked to identify “innovative and tailored solutions” to the housing and homelessness issues in their particular local authority area.