When Ciara Walsh looks at her 10-year-old daughter, she sees the next generation staring back at her.
Our children are the future. That’s why it’s so heartbreaking to see my daughter worrying about where we’re going to live. A child doesn’t have to worry about that,” explains the 41-year-old nurse. “I agree with Michael D Higgins. The housing crisis is truly the scandal of our time.”
Four and a half years ago, Ciara and her daughter’s lives changed completely.
It was an everyday weekday morning. The community nurse was doing her workday in Ballinterer when she began to feel unwell.
“I went to my car to drive to a patient and I remember feeling very strange. I managed to get into the car, but my right side was not working properly.
“I managed to open the door with the key with my left hand.
“Then I tried to start the car, but I fell unconscious. I later found out I had an AVM [arteriovenous malformation]which is essentially a brain haemorrhage.”
About two hours later, one of her co-workers, while walking through the parking lot, noticed that Ciara was still in her car and hadn’t left as planned to perform her nursing duties.
Realizing something was seriously wrong, she raised the alarm, potentially saving Ciara’s life.
Ciara was taken by ambulance to St. James’ Hospital and later transferred to Beaumont, which specializes in treating brain injuries.
The following days, weeks, and months passed in a blur for the single parent.
Brain injury recovery can be a slow process and can affect a range of patient functions, including mobility and cognitive skills.
“It affected my speech and my ability to write. I also initially lost some movement on my right side.
“But especially in the last year I really start to feel like myself again.”
Before her brain injury, Ciara had been saving for a mortgage.
Originally from Dalkey in south Dublin, she rented an apartment in nearby Ballybrack. “Before this happened, I was saving for a down payment for a mortgage. I was also in the process of becoming a public health nurse. Everything was on schedule, I had a plan. But then everything just changed.”
Ciara’s medical prognosis meant that she and her daughter had to move to her parents’ home for six months in the immediate aftermath of her AVM.
She loved her independence and moved when she was medically fit, returning to her rented apartment in Ballybrack. Because she could no longer work full-time, she had to use her savings to pay her rent. Realizing that this was financially unsustainable, she began researching what state aid she would be entitled to after her brain injury.
Her landlord had given her a year’s notice to sell the apartment.
Ciara applied for the Housing Allowance (HAP) and was eligible.
She started looking for a new home, assuming she had enough time, but virtually all the landlords she approached made it clear they wouldn’t accept HAP.
“When I said I was using HAP, the response was just ‘no’. There is such discrimination. There are many reasons people end up on HAP – mine is because of my medical injury. Nobody wants to be in this situation.
“The government should have an information campaign so that there is more awareness about HAP,” she said.
Finally, after an entire year of non-stop searching, Ciara finally found a landlord willing to accept payment.
She and her daughter have moved to a house in Dalkey and have made it their home for the past few years. But Ciara got the news a few months ago that she has to move because her landlord has plans for the property.
“The worst thing for me is that my daughter is worried. People think, ‘Oh, you’re from Dalkey, you must be rich.’ It’s complete reverse snobbery.
“There are plenty of people in Dalkey and other similar areas who are having a hard time.”
Ciara recently filed for homeless people HAP, meaning she may be entitled to more financial aid to cover her rent.
“Even if I hadn’t had the AVM, I would have really struggled to save for a mortgage while renting. I would love to own my house for myself and my daughter. But that still seems so far away. At the moment, however, I would settle for a roof over our heads.”