The initiative on homelessness in Dublin, announced yesterday by the Corporation and the Eastern Health Board, is welcome and timely - if long overdue and all too necessary. It is much too little, but at least a start.
The numbers involved have been increasing relentlessly in recent years, as social and family breakdown, high rents and housing shortages drive more people from their homes and onto the streets. The public response has been disgracefully slow and mean-spirited in a time of economic boom. It is a pity the initiative could not have been announced before winter set in.
There was an air of determination as the announcement was made, which should augur well for future progress in tackling the issue. The city manager, Mr John Fitzgerald, made a particular point of commending the co-operation he has received from the Minister for Housing and Urban Renewal, Mr Molloy. A special provision of five million pounds was made in the Budget to fund new facilities, including treatment clinics for drug and alcohol addiction, and to upgrade existing ones.
Details were also announced yesterday of new facilities to be provided by voluntary agencies, including the Iveagh Hostel and the Simon Community. One-stop referral services are being introduced and more psychiatric, medical and counselling services are being put in place. A new inspectorate is being introduced and more officers allocated to deal with the question of homelessness. Mr Molloy's announcement that a cross-departmental group is to report soon on how more long-term coherence can be brought to the system of public care is welcome as a long-term commitment.
It cannot be denied that local authorities and government departments have a primary responsibility to provide these facilities, in addition to helping voluntary agencies with their work. Homelessness originates in the wider society, especially in the housing crisis which has seen many more people unable to provide accommodation for themselves as costs and rents soar. Despite the substantial increase recently in public housing, demand still outweighs supply; but many of the homeless never even make it on to public-housing lists.
The latest initiatives in Dublin should serve as an example for other cities and towns afflicted with the problem of homelessness. With commitment and adequate funding there is a great deal that can be done to tackle the problem. The image of so many people sleeping rough on the streets of London during the 1980s boom in the Thatcher years left an enduring memory of social insouciance which damaged Britain's international reputation. That lesson should be fully learned here. So should it be remembered that a society unable or unwilling to meet the needs of its most vulnerable citizens will pay a high price for such a lack of social cohesion. Indices of drug and alcohol addiction, petty crime and general social insecurity are closely related to such a political failure.