Self employed couple facing homelessness

Added: 2026-05-17

[00:00:00]We've always worked hard. Jess has her company set up in Arlo. Um, I do painting and decorating for myself. So, that's why I said, "Look, it's easier for me just to shut down my business.

[00:00:09]It's just a van and equipment where she has a premises and everything." But, I got up every morning. I had to go out, find the work myself. I had to do the work. I get paid. I have to pay my accountants to put my books through and then pay her tax at the end of the year.

[00:00:23]All to have it handed away to somebody else. And then in our hour of need, we just literally get a door slammed in our face. And it's absolutely gut-wrenching when you have that happening to you.

[00:00:33]>> I'm here with Kieran and Jess in Kboy County, Wikllo. Now, you've attracted quite a lot of attention over the past few days after councelor Gavin Pepper highlighted your story. Could you tell us what's going on with your with your housing?

[00:00:46]>> Basically, the housing situation is um we're due to be out here at the 8th of June.

[00:00:52]um our land lady, private land lady she's setting up, which she's totally entitled to do. But it leaves us in a predicament because we've two daughters, Kendall, who's 13, and Chanel who's 15.

[00:01:06]Chanel was diagnosed in March with leukemia and she's going through treatment at the moment. And basically within our local area, there's nowhere to rent. There's literally nothing in the area. So, we're struggling because supposedly we're too poor for a mortgage and we're too rich for any social housing in any way, shape, or form. I rang County Council the other day to even apply for emergency homeless accommodation and I was told we don't even qualify for that.

[00:01:35]We're both self-employed. Um, I've actually had to suspend my company to go care for Chanel for the next 2 years.

[00:01:42]And the fact my wife Jess is a year in business. She's doing really well, but she's only a year in business that she needs 2 years plus on her books. And then the fact I'm going on carers allowance doesn't qualify us for a mortgage.

[00:01:54]>> And we we're at the basically the end of May now. You said the 8th of June.

[00:01:58]>> What are you planning to do on that date?

[00:02:01]>> Lose our minds. We're we're literally in limbo. Just reaching out for as much help as possible because we're just lost literally at this moment in time. We're lost. But you mentioned that your your daughter is quite ill. Has has that has nobody kind of come in to catch you in that situation at all? Has it?

[00:02:19]>> No. No. Nope. Doesn't seem to matter in this day and age. Um she has cell type B uh leukemia lymphoplasmic and uh she's going through treatment now. She was diagnosed on my 40th birthday, 12th of March. And uh she's been absolutely amazing. She's probably the most positive person in the house at the moment.

[00:02:42]>> Yeah.

[00:02:42]>> And then recently, our 13-year-old daughter Kendall has been diagnosed with depression and she suffers with anxiety as well, just due to the whole situation because they're seeing the wear on us and the struggles that we're going through and just trying our best to sort out house in whatever way we can, but uh we're just left in limbo.

[00:03:01]>> And how much notice were you given?

[00:03:03]>> It was all done right. We signed a new contract back in August and then the following October like we were given our termination letter which gave us 6 months and originally you know we were like okay it's doable we'll find somewhere to get by where we can rent for the moment until Jesse can qualify with her books and but then when Chanel was diagnosed it's just totally flipped everything on its head we we can't go for any house now it has to be a clean sterile uh very hygienic environment for Chanel because she's immune compromised.

[00:03:36]Um, fungal infections, viral infections, anything can just wipe the child out in a heartbeat. Like, >> yeah.

[00:03:43]>> So, we love the house we're in, but at the same time, it's not suitable because it does have little issues with mold here and there, which is understandable, but >> it's freezing cold.

[00:03:54]>> We just literally have to try and find somewhere that's safe for our children.

[00:03:58]>> And can you walk us a little bit through the processes you've gone through to try and find a house? I I we all know at this point like it's no secret that there is a severe housing shortage over the last number of years, but what has it been like to actually have to do that every day?

[00:04:12]Heartbreaking. You wake up in the morning and you're defeated. Just defeated straight away. Um Kremlin Hospital and they've been absolutely amazing to us. Um we have a social worker in Kumland Hospital. Um Claire Cullen, she is just fighting to nail for us and she's working with a lady out Wicklo County Council. Um Mary Rose Walker, she seems to be advocating for us left, right, and sideways just to try and help us in any way possible. Um we have Aven's Pink Tai Charity. We have Irish Cancer Society and then a couple of the local charities in the area.

[00:04:45]They've just been absolutely amazing to us as well, just helping us with everything. But then when you turn to your government for help and your local council, you're just getting nothing.

[00:04:55]You're just getting pushed back all the time. Um, the week that Chanel was diagnosed, the Saturday night 1:00 in the morning, I was sitting in the parents lounge on my own with a table full of forms and I just sat there for about 3 and 1 half, four hours just filling in forms for everything and sent them off. We've followed the channels as you're supposed to do, tick the boxes, and then you just get another form to fill in and another form. And then at the end of it all, you're just told, "Sorry, you don't qualify for this. You don't qualify for that." and you're just left in limbo.

[00:05:28]It's It's heartbreaking. Really heartbreaking. So, >> it's more forms getting sent out to you then like weeks later after them forms have been filled in. It's more forms asking more questions about like me being self-employed and do you know when does he think he'd be able to go back to work and has he done any work? Like there's absolutely no way like he could go to work. He left the house here last Friday for his own doctor's appointment that he that I had booked for him. Um, and he was like literally 15 minutes out the road. Our youngest daughter rang him and said Chanel has nose bleed. He had to come straight back and get Chanel and bring her straight to come in hospital.

[00:06:09]Like that was just last Friday. And that was like just leaving her for 15 minutes. So there's no way like he can work at all like to know while all this is like over the next two years while all this is happening. it has to be like there for like instantly if she had a little bit of a temperature or a nose bleed or anything.

[00:06:27]>> So, um yeah, I've I went down the road to the car's benefit and everything and last week I got a form in the door and it was literally in the last 6 months, how many weeks, days, and hours have you worked? And you know, you do your best to fill it in while trying to remember everything. And at the end of the form, it was like, when do you think you're going to go back to work? And as I've said so many times, I'm not a doctor. I don't know how our child's treatment is going. Like I cannot decide that. Like and uh I just literally put unknown because that's all you could write on it. It's just unknown. And uh yeah, it's it's so hard because to go for a mortgage, the fact that I'm going on carers doesn't they won't even look at us. And then the fact that Jess's books are so new in business.

[00:07:16]>> It's not even that they're low. It's just that they're so new because of all my expenses that went out from last year. Now, if I hadn't known that I was going to get an eviction notice, I probably wouldn't have had my expenses so much. like I wouldn't have been going on hair courses, booking hair shows, um going to hair events and beauty events and do you know I would have like tried to save a little bit. I wouldn't have gotten so spent so much on all my signage for the shop and but then like you get an eviction notice and you're like right okay I have to try present this now and get a mortgage and then they see all your outgoings and you're like this is your profit after everything you've made last year and that's what they base your mortgage on.

[00:08:03]So they multiply that by four and it's like right we could probably give you a 40,000 of a mortgage do you know? So whereas when you're going to the council they see your overall what you took in under like not a hope you've went way over the threshold.

[00:08:19]>> So hearing that it sounds to me as though the process is very very robotic and very very box ticking and it doesn't seem to take into consideration from what I'm hearing the actual circumstances you're coming from. Is that the case?

[00:08:33]>> The way the government look at it basically is black and white, but there's the gray area in the middle for the working class who everybody's situation is different. Like since March, we've literally been like ships passing in the night. Um like Jess is carrying all the burden and the stress financially. Um she's keeping the two vehicles on the road for her to get to work for me to get up and down for Chanel's hospital appointments, which were 5 days a week at the beginning, maybe six. They're down to maybe two or three now. Um, and then I'm carrying the burden of at home with Chanel giving her 24-hour care. But then for myself personally as a man, it's like I just feel like I'm useless. I I'm not bringing in money. I haven't worked since March. Um, I literally the only money I've received was a donation from a local charity for fuel to get us up and down the road. And it's heartbreaking to know. I said to counselor Gavin Pepper, I feel like a failure is a father for that. And I know as he says, you're not the failure, it's the system who failing you. And we know that, but at the same time, you just carry that burden with you. You're um you're trying your best. You're supposed to be the hero in your kids' eyes and they're looking at you broken. And it's hard like, you know, you just have to get on with it. And then with Kendall being diagnosed as well with depression and a bit of anxiety, we're traveling with her for two appointments a week just to make sure she's in good health and she's she's getting what she needs as well. And uh yeah, it's it's just a struggle. Like we're just literally left in limbo. The fuel issue seems like such a tiny part of what you're going through more broadly, but like we know that the country was in parts brought to a standstill in recent weeks over people like yourselves, I assume, being concerned about the cost of fuel. How much in euros does it take to bring your your daughter up and down to Crumblin?

[00:10:28]So there was actually a time where there uh during the protests I actually didn't really see Chanel, the two of them, they were in hospital for a full five days in a row and I I didn't go and see them because first of all it's going to cost way too much in fuel and then secondly with the protests you don't even know how long like I could get there and it could take me 3 hours to get there like get spend maybe half an hour with her and then have to drive home. So like and when she went in that time that week, she was like it wasn't even expected. So she had absolutely nothing with her. She had no didn't even have so much as a toothbrush or like a pair of pajamas.

[00:11:05]Now, thank God like um my mother wasn't too far. She was out to drive in a few bits. Um, a few people even just from like Instagram that I didn't even know just dropped in like pajamases and like food and snacks for her and you know like bits of clothes and just they were just like is there anything she needs like that she doesn't have? And I was like she doesn't have anything like she's in there because she got kept in.

[00:11:32]And then the protest started and thankfully Aven's pink tie put her up um in a nearby hotel just in case that she did go home and then she couldn't travel back if she got a nose blew or a temperature. Um and yeah, she was there for nearly 2 weeks, wasn't it? And that was really unexpected. We didn't have anything.

[00:11:51]They didn't have anything with them at all. So I was just like ringing in, you know, Uber Eats and stuff, dropping them in takeaways and stuff like that. like so I I did have to limit the amount of times I was going up. I had to cut it back because of the field costs.

[00:12:05]>> And you mentioned off camera that you've gotten in touch with um some counselors from A&2 and that Padra Bean was on to you personally. Do you do you think do you have any hope that they'll be able to push something through for you?

[00:12:16]>> A2 have been brilliant. They've actually been brilliant to us. They've um they've been in contact with WL County Council already. They're pushing everything. Um there's a local counselor from Arlo, Miriam Murphy. She's been >> she's been very good. She's a she's a genuine person who wants to help and she is doing her best.

[00:12:36]>> I was contacted by another counselor from the area and I explained my story to her and literally all I got back was, "Oh, I totally understand what you're going through. I have four Ukrainian families going through the same situation being bounced around and I just hung up on her." Like I I just hung up because I was like I was ringing you about my situation and it comes back to this like you know what I mean? And you can't blame the immigrants and the Ukrainians and all for coming here because I always uh I like to refer to the country as a Republic of Bobo. Bobo the circus clown because we're the clowns of Europe and the country is an absolute circus. It is like you cannot blame these people for coming over here and being treated the way they are because it's it's brilliant for them.

[00:13:17]Like it's amazing. But if we could get that for our own Irish people, it'd be a lot better. You know what I mean? We're both self-employed. We pay our taxes.

[00:13:25]We've always worked hard. Um, Jess has her company set up in Arlo. Um, I do painting and decorating for myself. So, that's why I said, "Look, it's easier for me just to shut down my business.

[00:13:37]It's just a van and equipment where she has a premises and everything, but I got up every morning. I had to go out, find the work myself. I had to do the work. I get paid. I have to pay my accountants to put my books through and then pay her tax at the end of the year. All to have it handed away to somebody else. And then in our hour of need, we just literally get a door slammed in our face. And it's absolutely gut-wrenching when you have that happening to you.

[00:14:01]Like >> I mean, especially then when you don't even qualify for anything at the end of it.

[00:14:05]>> Yeah, definitely. Like we're in Wikllo.

[00:14:07]The tarnish Simon Harris is a Wikllo man. He's the only office that didn't even answer the phone to me. And I was just like, there's the proofs in the pudding.

[00:14:17]>> Now, the government, they're not politicians. They're lobbyists. They lobby for the big corporations for this and that to get them their tax breaks and everything. Whereas the salts of dirt people who actually go out and pay those taxes and pay their wages just get door slammed in their face and told, "Sorry, move on down the line."

[00:14:36]>> If you did have the opportunity to speak directly to Tanisha Simon Harris, what would you say to him?

[00:14:43]Um, I don't know how the man can sleep at night. I really, and same with me, Hall Martin. I don't know how they can go out into the public eye and literally spoof cuz that's all they do. They just spoof about their great bicycle sheds and this and that. And I actually said that to our social worker like we were doing cyanin treatment with her daughter at home 4 days a week and that's me giving her the treatment at home, chemo.

[00:15:07]And I said it to her, "What am I supposed to do next month? Am I supposed to do her sight therapin treatment in a tent on the side of the road? And then she Oh, K, don't be like that. I tell you what I'll do. I I go to one of the lovely bike sheds. It should be nice to do it in there cuz that's that's the way it is. Like the amount of money to spend on their bicycle sheds. How many families could you help with that money?

[00:15:26]Do you know what I mean? Like Well, one of the bike sheds I read was 127,000. I think the one up at Dollar A was 336,000 or something. and their 1.1 million security hut. The bike shed alone could pay for this house. It's more expensive than this house. This is a three-bedroom house bungalow. And their bike shed cost more than that. Um I'd love to know what kind of bicycles they're putting into it. They must be very expensive as well.

[00:15:52]They go on to RT and all these channels and they have their great little moments of publicity over the silliest of things when if they actually get out onto the streets and talk to the real people like Councelor Gavin Pepper does. He goes to the people on the street. Like it took a counselor to come down from Fingless to travel down here over 2 hours. The man I rang him I think it was 4 5 in the afternoon, wasn't it?

[00:16:16]>> He was down here by 7:00 that evening.

[00:16:18]He finished working. He says, "I'm in the car. I'm on the way down." He sat here. He talked to our girls. He got to know the girls. He got to know us. And then he says, "Now I'm going to put your story out." And it took Gavin to get the ball rolling on this. And then we had Nile Bolin reach out to us, another lovely man I must say. I spoke to him for a while personally on the phone and Nile told our story as well like and you know it takes the fact that we have to go public to name and shame is to get where we need to be. And it's it's horrible because you follow everything.

[00:16:52]You do it all by the book. You do your forms. fill them in and then you get the breaking point and then that's when you have to go like this. And it's a real Irish thing to keep everything private.

[00:17:02]You know, you don't want your pride to be damaged. You don't want your storage.

[00:17:04]But I literally don't care if they scream my name at all at this stage. If it doesn't help us, if it helps the families that are out there coming after us that haven't hit the breaking point yet because the horror stories you hear out there, it's just heartbreaking. Like it really is.

[00:17:19]>> Yeah. Like I get a lot of questions like, "Oh, would you not go for um a council mortgage?" But this it's the same rigor always trying to like get a mortgage from the bank like and I have tried I've I've we've literally tried every avenue, haven't we?

[00:17:34]>> Like we were like a lot of people said try the credit union because you know they're really good >> and they actually thought we were just coming in looking for a refusal letter.

[00:17:44]like they were like, "We we're you're asking for a mortgage based on this figure." And I said, "Yeah." They said, "I think you need to go to the council."

[00:17:52]I says, "They say our income is way too high." And they were like, "Um, no. We we there's definitely no way we could give you a mortgage based on this." And it's just like, I don't know. We've just tried everything. Like even if we did rent again, we'd have to move probably 45 minutes away from here. have to drop the girls to school half an hour away. I work in Arlo. I'd have to like close my shop. Now, this would be like when they're both fully back in school. I'd have to close my shop to collect them to and then that's another 45minut journey and then drive back to drop them home, drive back to work. So, it's just not sustainable like you know um and they would be our nearest rental say like in Gori or Arlo and they're all like 2 and a half grand a month. So like how would one person be able to pay that? Like do you know for like over the next two years while she's in treatment?