Homeless children: Conor, 16 – ‘You’re seeing people all the time fighting, stressed, taking drugs, drinking’

“I remember all the stuff being packed up when we left our home in Drimnagh. I was eight or nine . There was me, my ma, my younger brother and older sisters. My brother was about two weeks old.

“[The first place] was awful. We had to share with other families. We were there three or four years. I never told anyone in school where I was living. I was embarrassed.

“After that we went to an apartment for about five months, a two-bedroom place. Then we moved to a one-bedroom bedsit.

“I felt I could make friends, but couldn’t at the same time. I’d make one or two, but I wouldn’t get very attached.

“It affected my learning big time, because I was learning one thing and then I’d move, and then they’d be learning stuff I’d already learned.

“You don’t want to have to tell people about being homeless as a kid. Eight- or nine-year-olds love having a place to bring their friends home, and you just can’t do that.

“You just can’t have a happy life as a child when you don’t have that. And you’re seeing people all the time fighting, stressed, taking drugs, drinking.

“Nearly every day my ma used to go ask for somewhere bigger, somewhere nicer. It never used to happen. It upset her a lot. They kept moving her. She didn’t show it, but I always knew she was under stress. She was always worrying.”