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Donor throws lifeline to family facing eviction

Wednesday, 13 August 2008

A kind hearted anonymous donor has thrown a desperate Southside dad of four a lifeline by giving him money that may save him and his young children from homelessness.
However, it remains unclear whether the Health Services Executive (HSE) will pay 34-year-old Joe Kinnane the rent allowance that would prevent his eventual eviction from his Cherrywood home.
Mr Kinnane was devastated when his partner Angela died two years ago, leaving him to bring up Jasmine (11), Nicole (7), Austin (4) and Bobby (2) on his own.
Since Angela's death, Joe has struggled to make ends meet and although he has been in receipt of social welfare payments, the rent on his privately owned house in Loughlinstown fell into arrears to the tune of e35,000.
Joe’s partner died suddenly and tragically aged just 29 in the Cherrywood home in 2006 from a heart condition. At this point Joe took full responsibility for raising their children and as a consequence was forced to close his business.
Petition

Mr Kinnane was served with a court order for eviction on August 1 but was granted an extension by his landlord to allow him to petition the HSE to provide him with the rent allowance payments.
People Before Profit campaigners Richard Boyd Barrett and Hugh Lewis have fought Joe’s case. They called on the HSE to provide him with rent allowance into the future.
Following the appeals made by and on behalf of Joe in the media, an anonymous man phoned a Dublin radio station last week to say he would pay half of Joe’s rent arrears.
In order to keep Mr Kinnane on as a tenant, his landlord said she would need a guarantee from the HSE that they would grant him rent allowance and keep paying it into the future.
Speaking to Southside People, Joe Kinnane said he was overjoyed at the donation. However, he pointed out that while the HSE has indicated that they would pay his rent allowance into the future, they had not yet given him a guarantee on the matter.
“I am over the moon,” he declared. “I didn’t think there were people out there like that.
“At this stage I am hoping to be able to stay in the house, please God. My landlord has given me a bit of grace so the HSE can sort the situation out.
“Richard Boyd Barrett is a God to me,” he added. “He has done more in a fortnight than any of the TDs I have contacted have done in over a year and a half.”
Mr Boyd Barrett said Joe’s fate now rested with the HSE and he called on them to guarantee the payment of his rent allowance into the future.
“This person has now given this generous donation which could save Joe from being put out of his home but whether or not he is evicted depends on the willingness of the HSE to agree to pay him the rent allowance into the future,” Mr Boyd Barrett said.
Fate
“Joe was entitled to rent allowance two years ago and that matter still needs to be followed up,” he added. “But the HSE now holds the fate of Joe Kinnane and his family in their hands. We have a sort of commitment [that the HSE will pay Joe’s rent allowance from now on] but they haven’t formally approved it,” he added.
A spokeswoman for the HSE said they did not comment on individual cases.

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