Public donates £7,000 to stop family's eviction

JOAN Cunningham and four of her children spent last night at their Dublin Corporation house in the Mulhuddart area of west Dublin, thanks to public generosity. More than £7,000 has been donated by the public to stop the family being evicted for rent arrears.

They were about to be removed from the house at Dromheath Avenue, in Ladyswell, yesterday morning. But the sheriff's men were "ambushed" by neighbours and friends along with Joe Duffy of The Gay Byrne Show and thousands of radio listeners.

The programme had been contacted on Wednesday afternoon by personnel at the Blanchardstown Money Centre, in west Dublin, which is run by the Department of Social Welfare. They were seeking money from The Gay Byrne Show fund to help pay off £5,900 rent arrears to prevent the eviction of Mrs Cunningham, and the four of her eight children still at home Paul (15), Alan (14), John (11) and Michelle (10). Only £1,700 could be raised on Wednesday from the GBS fund, from Blanchardstown Money Centre, from the local Vincent de Paul, and from Mrs Cunningham herself. She also agreed to pay £40 a week from now £20 in rent, and the remainder against outstanding, arrears.

However, officials at Dublin Corporation's arrears office said that unless the arrears were paid in full, the eviction would go ahead. Nor could they accept Mrs Cunningham's assurances about paying £40 a week.

She had moved into the house in 1985 with her unemployed husband and eight children. The corporation obtained its first court order for arrears in 1986. Four orders were set aside when Mrs Cunningham agreed to pay a weekly amount, in addition to her rent, to offset the arrears. On each occasion she failed to make the payment. In April 1994 she agreed to pay an additional £12 a week towards arrears, along with her £20 rent. By October of that year, she had defaulted again.

Her husband left the home seven years ago. Until August of last year Mrs Cunningham was supporting six of her eight children at home on the £131.30 a week social welfare she received. Last August, her son Gary (16) was one of three local youths killed in an accident in a stolen car at Ratoath, Co Meath. His funeral cost £1,800, and though assisted by the Vincent de Paul and the local Community Welfare office, £275 of that figure was still unpaid.

Despite that, she had set aside £265 towards a headstone for her son's grave, which she hoped to have erected in time for the first anniversary of his death. That money went into the £1,700 scraped together on Wednesday evening.

Mrs Cunningham says her son David (18) went to England some weeks ago. His share of her rent, assessed against his social welfare assistance of £60 a week, was £5.50. Her rent, in his absence, should now be £14.50 a week.

Sitting in her front room yesterday morning she said "I stayed up all night, I couldn't sleep with the worry." She had visited her son's grave that morning. "After he died I thought nothing else could happen me.

Meanwhile, people were calling to the house during the morning offering money. One man gave £500. Another offered his son's college fees. In all, £1,300 was collected in this way. The rest of the £8,000 came through The Gay Byrne Show and the money raised locally the previous evening was taken into account.