Family returned to Abbey Street home following court ordered eviction

Community and political activists in Derry have “enabled a young family to move back into their family home”.

The action followed the court-ordered eviction on Thursday lunchtime of Edward Devine from his Abbey Street home in the city’s Bogside.

Mr Devine, a single father of three children, daughters aged five, nine and a son aged 15, said he was relieved they were at school at the time of the eviction. 

Speaking to The Derry News, he described hearing what he thought was knocking at his back door.

“I thought it was my oldest daughter coming round to get a lift to work,” he added, “but when I went to the door, I saw a fella outside the door and I heard the drill.

“I opened the door and asked him what he was doing. A court official who was with him told me they were taking possession of the house. I asked them if they were using the back door because they didn’t want anyone to see them putting a father and his three children on the street.

“The minute I opened the door, the workman put his foot in the door and threatened to phone the police.

“I asked what was going to happen to all of my stuff and I was told it would be put in storage. When I asked where I was to go, the Housing Executive representative who was accompanying the two men told me to go to the Housing Executive office in Waterloo Place and say I was homeless and I would receive help with temporary accommodation.

“I said, ‘I have a home and you are putting me out of it,’” said Mr Devine, who bundled up some of his children's belongings and left the house.

After a lengthy wait in the Housing Executive office, Mr Devine was told temporary accommodation had been provided in the nearby Holiday Inn Hotel.

“This consisted of one room with a double bed and a sofa bed for the four of us,” said Mr Devine. “It was also completely inappropriate for my son to be sharing a room with his sisters.”

“About 8 o’clock I was contacted at the Holiday Inn and told there were people at the house taking the metal grilles of the windows and we would be able to get back into the house,” he added.

Mr Devine explained that his father had lived in the house until his death in December 2023. He had inherited the tenancy from his mother, Mr Devine’s grandmother.

“After a prolonged spell in many unsuitable temporary accommodations with the three children, due to family breakdown, we moved into Abbey Street following my father’s funeral, having cared for him while he was ill.

“The three children are happy here. They all have their own rooms. They are very well settled this year for the first time and their school reports are good but they were stressed and worried when I told them about the eviction. 

“Really we need a home and not to be put back into temporary, inadequate, hotel accommodation,” said Mr Devine.

Grilles on the door and windows of the Abbey Street home following court ordered eviction on Thursday.

In a widely shared social media post on Thursday night, Derry City and Strabane District councillor Gary Donnelly said he was “proud to stand alongside community and political activists who defied the state and enabled a young family to move back into their family home”.

“A home that this family has a connection with for over 70 years,” added Cllr Donnelly.

“Today NIHE took the decision to evict this family using bully boy tactics including threats that they would be arrested. They then used contractors, with vehicles that had no signage, to board up the property, leaving them on the street.

“They hadn’t even got the decency to have alternative emergency accommodation for the single parent and his three school children.

“After leaving the father sitting in their office for hours, it was only after representations were made to the acting manager that they were placed in a hotel. Despite contacting social workers and NIHE, they didn’t get back to the family or those speaking on their behalf. 

“Tonight the community gave their response and dismantled the barriers and the children are now in their own beds. This family needs the support and solidarity of the entire community so that NIHE does not enact the threat to have the British police forcibly remove them from their home,” said Cllr Donnelly.

“I call on all those with an interest in civil rights to support this family in whatever way they can,” he added.

In a requested statement to The Derry news, a Housing Executive spokesperson said: “We are aware of this case.”