Labour backed mob hound innocent family

national | housing | news report

Wednesday July 07, 2010 16:14

by Grave Spinner

On Monday, Wicklow Labour councillors propsed a motion which would exclude the families of convicted sex offenders from the local authority housing list. The 'guilt by association' motion, which received cross party support, came the day after an alleged arson attack on a house earmarked for the wife and children of a convicted sex offender.

Labour Party Cllr Jimmy O'Shaughnessy

A local authority house in the village of Ashford, which had been due to be occupied by the wife and children of a convicted sex offender who had been given a six-month suspended sentence in 1992 for having unlawful carnal knowledge of a minor, was destroyed by fire on Sunday night. Gardai are currently investigating the cause of the blaze.

Attempts by the council to move the family into the house, without the sex offender, sparked a three-day protest last week. On Thursday residents blockaded the house as the family waited outside in a council van as Gardai unsuccessfully attempted to move people blocking the entrance.The local authority had previously made several attempts to house the family in Rathnew, Redcross and in Ashford, and had each time been met with protests from local residents.

A statement issued by the the local authority's housing division had given assurances that the sex offender would not move to the house and that only his partner and four children were to be housed.

A motion passed by Wicklow county council on Monday, proposed by Labour Party’s Conal Kavanagh and Jimmy Shaughnessy, stated that “those who consort” with individuals convicted of sex offences would be excluded from the housing list.

The council now needs the approval of the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government before anyone can be taken off the hosing list.

Addressing protesters outside the council, Labour councillor Nicky Kelly stated that he did not want the family to be housed anywhere in the county.

The position of hounding an innocent family has not been added to the policy section of Labour.ie