Sir, - The announcement last week of the unprecedented Exchequer surplus of over £1.2 billion is wonderful news. It means that the Government now has the money and the opportunity to tackle and deal with the problems of inequality in our society. Chance is something that comes to pass, not to pause, and here we are being given the chance to bring an end to homelessness, to ensure that no child ever sleeps on the streets of our towns and cities again, because of the lack of a bed for the night.
Unfortunately, for some of our young people, who are just starting out in life, the Celtic Tiger is a meaningless phenomenon. Every day in Focus Ireland we meet young people in the most appalling circumstances. Every night, there are children and young people under 18 sleeping out in our cities, prey to all kinds of dangers. In 1997, 877 young people under 18 used Focus Ireland's services. This is up from 352 in 1994.
We cannot justify the hardship these young people suffer, that marks them for life and indeed claims some of their lives, in the middle of an economic boom. With proper co-ordinated planning, it would take a very small portion of our current economic surplus to bring an end to this problem, once and for all. We should be grasping the opportunity with both hands.
Side by side with our extraordinary economic growth, there is a huge growth in housing need. We now have over 30,000 households on the waiting list for housing. This represents approximately 100,000 people. This figure does not even take into account the single people who are discouraged from going on the housing list. More and more people are being forced to rely on the private rented sector because of the escalation of house prices brought about by the economic boom. This time of economic boom presents our Government with a great opportunity to tackle our housing crisis, in a planned way, and to distribute our unprecedented prosperity in a just and equitable manner.
As part of my work I travel around the country on a regular basis. I meet people from all classes in society, and I find that they have a very genuine commitment to justice, a very genuine commitment to ending poverty, at home and abroad. This is to the credit of Irish people. It is time for the Government to acknowledge this commitment and to respond to it in a real and practical way by moving, at this time of unprecedented wealth, to bring an end to homelessness once and for all. Achieving this goal should be at the top of a list of priorities and not at the bottom. - Yours, etc.,
Sr Stanislaus Kennedy, President, Focus Ireland, Bride Street, Dublin 8.