The Health Service Executive (HSE) is picking up the bill for a family of eight travellers who checked themselves into Dublin’s Citywest hotel after being evicted from their home in Clondalkin earlier this month.

The Doherty family booked into the four-star hotel on June 20 and the HSE has since agreed to fund the cost of at least €2,000 a week. Margaret Doherty and her family, including six children and her disabled mother, began a High Court action last week to force South Dublin county council (SDCC) to provide suitable accommodation for them. They claimed to have been forced to leave temporary accommodation in a Dublin hostel as it was unsuitable for children to be “surrounded by drug addicts and homeless people”.

The family was moved to the hostel after being evicted from a private house in Clondalkin which their landlord said was being sold. They left the hostel and checked into Citywest, and the HSE has agreed to fund their costs in its capacity as an agent for the council.

SDCC told the court on Friday that it needed a “realistic time” to assess the matter, which was complicated by the presence of a disabled grandmother in the family unit. The judge gave the council and the HSE two weeks to file responding affidavits.

A council spokesman said there were 60 families on its waiting list for accommodation for homeless people, with the waiting period ranging from five to 18 months. Sources in the council say it is opposing the Doherty family’s request for immediate accommodation as it could “open the floodgates” if the family was effectively allowed to jump the queue for housing.

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