Husbands of women on hunger strike in Dublin emergency accommodation on the plight of their wives.
Dublin Corporation is giving priority in allocating housing to people displaced from dangerous buildings. A number of families made homeless for other reasons are being accommodated in the Dublin Health Authority night shelter at Griffith Barracks. However, the families in question have been split up, with husbands not permitted to stay.
Five women have gone on hunger strike to highlight their living conditions. They are Christina Kearney, Breeda Morris, Marie Quinn, Kathleen Flynn and Ann Brady. Between them, they have 14 children living at the night shelter.
Their hunger strike is a protest against being separated from their husbands. It is also aimed at getting the Dublin Corporation to allot them houses.
John Morris, whose wife is hunger strike says,
We feel terrible about it, like you know that our wives have to go and do this.
The poor living conditions at Griffith Barracks and the fact that husbands only see their wives and families for a limited time each evening has been raised in the Dáil by former Minister of Health Dr Noel Browne.
An RTÉ News report broadcast on 9 December 1963. The reporter is Sean Egan.
