Madam, - Following the recent letters from the dean of St Patrick's Cathedral, Robert McCarthy, and from the director of the Homeless Agency, Mary Higgins, there are a number of points I wish to make.
I welcome the dean's concern for the plight of homeless people in Dublin. This is an issue on which it is right that churchmen and others in a position to influence debate should speak out. But it would be unfortunate if people were left with the sense that the welcome investment in tackling homelessness in Dublin over the past three years had somehow gone to waste.
There has been quite an improvement in the quality and accessibility of services for homeless people over the past three years. There are new accommodation projects for homeless street drinkers and drug users. The number of emergency beds available has increased substantially. Here at Merchants Quay Ireland we have been able to develop a primary healthcare service for homeless people in partnership with the South Western Area Health Board and we have also greatly developed our settlement and day care services for homeless people.
There are many other new projects on stream as well.
However, these new projects barely allow us to keep pace with this on-going problem. Like Trust and other services for the homeless, we are seeing just as many homeless people as we did three years ago, if not more.
I tend to agree with Mary Higgins that homelessness can indeed be solved by 2010 if the political will exists and if adequate resources are put in place to do so. This means providing enough additional housing to meet the needs of all those currently homeless, providing adequate safety-net measures for those likely to become homeless in the coming years and ending policies likely to cause homelessness, such as the changes in the rent supplement recently announced by the Government.
In addition, there will need to be a major investment in "move on" housing so people do not need to stay in hostels or B & Bs which, as the dean rightly says, are not an adequate solution. - Yours, etc.,
TONY GEOGHEGAN,
Director,
Merchants Quay Ireland
Drugs and Homeless Services,
Dublin 8.