'Moving in with Family' social video was approved by Housing Minister's officials, emails show

Darragh Mc Donagh

A controversial social media video that Housing Minister James Browne claimed had nothing to do with his department was co-scripted by an agency under his remit and was approved by senior officials in housing prior to its publication, internal emails reveal.

The Housing Minister moved to distance himself and his department from the ‘Moving in with Family’ video after it was pilloried online last month, and described as “tone deaf” by the Opposition.

He told an Oireachtas committee that “young people” had developed the video, and that his department “did not have any involvement in it”. Mr Browne said he had not been aware of the video before it was shared on his department’s social media channels.

He suggested that a single official in housing, who was “well-intentioned but maybe misconceived”, had seen the video elsewhere and unilaterally decided to post it from the department’s official accounts.

However, internal emails show that the script for the video was prepared by SpunOut, a youth support organisation, and the Housing Agency, a statutory body under the aegis of Mr Browne’s department.

The script was sent to the department for approval as early as August 11th, and was widely circulated among senior officials for comments and suggestions.

On October 6th, an official in the department’s homelessness section confirmed in an email that the press office and the minister’s own special adviser had been consulted on content for an information campaign that included the video.

In November, the Housing Agency’s monthly newsletter reported that it had been “tasked with designing an awareness and information campaign” by the department, and explicitly referenced the ‘Moving in with Family’ video.

The video also featured on a schedule circulated by the department’s communications staff in November and December, which outlined content that was going to be posted on social media.

The press office, housing officials, and even the minister’s special adviser were explicitly asked to “share and support” the content once it was published by the department.

The video, which was posted online last month, used the same script that was sent to the department for approval on August 11th. In the clip, two young people offer advice for anyone forced to move in with their family due to the housing crisis.

They suggested that young people should “help out around the house” by agreeing to do some “household chores”. This will not only lighten the workload for the family, they said, but also “help you feel more independent”.

The video was pilloried on social media and Labour leader Ivana Bacik described it as “beyond satire”, claiming that it “would be comical if it wasn’t so serious”.

Sinn Féin’s housing spokesman Eoin Ó Broin described it as “tone deaf”, and said he had thought that it was something from the satire website, Waterford Whispers, when he first viewed it.

Questioned about the video last month, Mr Browne said it was “young people and SpunOut who did it”, adding: “My department and I did not lead this. We did not have any involvement in it.”

He said: “An official in the Department of Housing, well-intentioned but maybe misconceived, saw what young people in SpunOut were doing and reposted it.

“The department had no role in the video but reposted it. Reposting the video was misconceived but there is an attempt to paint a picture… that somehow this was directed by me, the department, or whatever the case may be,” said the minister.

A spokesman for the Department of Housing said the video was developed and funded by the Housing Agency in partnership with SpunOut as part of a wider information campaign.

“The content was created by young people based on feedback from young people and reflecting topics they had raised,” he added.