A heroin-addicted mother of two who has been served with a notice to quit her Darndale, Dublin, home after gardai seized drugs, has asked the High Court for leave to challenge her impending eviction.
Mr Justice Kelly was told the woman, who is also looking after her heroin-addicted partner's child in addition to her own two young children, has since her arrest made every effort to cure her addiction, is attending drug counselling and has taken up a place on a methadone programme.
She said she was unemployed and was unable to provide accommodation for herself and her children from her own resources. If evicted, she feared they would be homeless possibly for the rest of their childhood.
Applying for leave to seek orders quashing Dublin Corporation's decision to serve notice to quit and to take District Court proceedings for the delivery-up of the home, Mr David O'Neill, for the woman, said the corporation had failed to take into account her efforts to cure her drug problem.
He argued that the corporation must consider the constitutional rights of the three children who would also be left with no home. He agreed that a condition of the tenancy was that the house should not be used for an unlawful purpose and the woman had admitted that heroin was found there.
Mr O'Neill also accepted the corporation's intention was to eliminate anti-social behaviour. The eviction of this family, however, was more likely to increase such behaviour as it could be some time before they were rehoused.
In her affidavit, the woman said it was the policy of Dublin Corporation to evict all tenants convicted in relation to the sale and supply of drugs. It was also the policy of the corporation and the Eastern Health Board not to rehouse any person whose tenancy had been determined because such involvement. She also believed the EHB might refuse to pay her supplementary welfare allowance for rent purposes.
She said she moved into her Darndale home in March 1989 and paid her rent as it fell due. She was the mother of two children aged seven and 10 and was looking after her partner's child, aged 13. That child's mother was dead, and a psychiatrist had written that any change in her accommodation would be detrimental. She and her partner were arrested in February 1998 for possessing 7.928 grams of brown powder containing heroin. She was charged with having heroin for sale or supply. They pleaded guilty in December and she was remanded on bail for sentence in May. She was called for an interview with Dublin Corporation to explain the circumstances of her arrest. An official did not tell her she would be evicted and did not ask her to explain why she should not be evicted, and no inquiry was made regarding her children. She did not hear anything until served with a notice to quit in September 1998.
Since her arrest, she had made every effort to cure her addiction. She was placed on methadone support in April 1998 for seven weeks with a named doctor, but because of a Department of Health protocol, the doctor could not continue to provide that treatment. She was referred to another project, was assessed and was on a bed list for in-patient detoxification at a Co Kildare centre.
She was also accepted for placement on a methadone programme and began that treatment earlier this month.
Her solicitors were told she was being evicted because of complaints by persons unknown and an investigation by the corporation concerning the finding of drugs at her home. Under the Freedom of Information Act, she was told the decision to serve a notice to quit was a result of a Garda raid on her home which re sulted in a quantity of controlled drugs for supply being found.
Mr Justice Kelly said he would make his ruling today.