Homeless children: Lucy, 5 – ‘I can’t draw my house. I don’t remember what it looks like’

“I like drawing flowers. I can’t draw my house – I don’t remember what it looks like.

“I have Rice Krispies for breakfast, on my bed. I like that. I walk to school. It’s a long walk, ages, and on the bus. I have to get up early, and sometimes I am tired. When I come home I eat dinner, on my bed.

“I have new little brother, and he keeps me awake. It is annoying, because it is too loud. In my room there is a bed and a big bed and a cot for my brother. There is a telly and a fridge, and a cupboard in my bedroom too. It’s a small room.

“At weekends I don’t have friends to play. It’s nice to play chasing, but I can’t play chasing at home. I like to go to the park. When it’s raining we stay in. I like playing out in the hall with the other kids, but Mammy doesn’t let me play in the hall. Sometimes I go to my nanny’s. She has a new fireplace. I have toys there, and I can play out the back. She has a garden. I would like a garden. I would have my bike, and I could play chasing and have a bouncy castle.

“I have a pet, a fish which is orange and white. Today I am calling her Rosie. She is on the table in my room, in a tank.

“I do not know what house I would like. I’d have a princess room. A kitchen. We have no kitchen. A bathroom. A sitting room. My brother could sleep on the ground.

“If I had a kitchen I would go there on my own and make the dinner. I could make soup and a Barbie cake for my mammy.”