'People with serious criminal backgrounds or substance abuse being 'abandoned' in Derry by NIHE and PSNI'

Cllr Emmet Doyle: "If the big companies are unable to supply you in a way that you can afford, people are going to do what people have done for generations"

placeholder image — Cllr Emmet Doyle: "If the big companies are unable to supply you in a way that you can afford, people are going to do what people have done for generations"

'Derry can't be used as a place to shift other areas' problems'

Aontú Councillor for Ballyarnett, Emmet Doyle, said a collective effort is required to stop what he described as the "abandonment of people with serious criminal backgrounds or substance abuse problems from Belfast and elsewhere in Derry by the Housing Executive and PSNI".

Cllr Doyle called on elected representatives, civic organisations and support organisations to work together to stop the practice.

He added: "During the pandemic, the Housing Executive put in place a programme to ensure no one would be homeless and so shifted applicants to other parts of the North to fulfil their obligations. This was often done with only slight notice, if any, to the local Housing offices.

"Our local officers and managers are fantastic and work very hard trying to get people housed in often difficult circumstances, they are not being listened to when they have raised concerns about this practice also.

"I protested against the vetting process for this given incidents that have happened in the city, signed off by both the Housing Executive and PSNI despite individuals having serious convictions and being placed in entirely inappropriate areas of the city. Since then, the practice has continued despite the worst of the pandemic being behind us.

"Whilst I would never want to tar a large group of people with one brush, it is obvious to me and many in the city that a significant proportion of those coming to the city require assistance with addictions or are simply vulnerable and have been effectively dumped here with little to no help," said Cllr Doyle.

Cllr Doyle added: "I have personally witnessed a number of people, clearly not from the city, who have Dublin and Belfast accents, taking drugs in broad daylight, engaging in criminality and violence and sometimes seen laying in the middle of the city centre unconscious.

"If people need help the Housing Executive in their home area and the PSNI should focus on getting them that help there. More and more people are contacting me about the state of the city centre in particular and their concerns around individuals being placed in communities.

This practice has to stop. Derry has enough of its own challenges without taking on the challenges from elsewhere. If that sounds harsh, I am afraid it is because I have attempted to have rational conversations with the police and as far up as the Chief Executive of the Housing Executive to no avail.

"The police are frankly failing to act on concerns and for many the city centre is becoming a place where they feel unsafe even during the day given some of the situations that are being witnessed.

"There are of course people who have come here and are seeking assistance and genuine placements where they are engaging with support organisations, but for those simply being sent down the road in taxis and buses who are not intent on living in peace in communities there has to be a much clearer understanding that the City will not accept it and it is time we all stood together and said so."