Last night a man lost his life because he was not in the safety of his own home. He is one of thousands forced into homelessness in our country on our city streets.
The homeless executive – part of Dublin City Council, spend in the region of €100 million euros every year on ‘homeless services’. Yet tonight, children and adults will be handed a sleeping bag and told to sleep in the parks. The emergency number for beds is turning people away saying there are no beds and there is great uncertainty. Meantime 600 dwellings belonging to Dublin City Council lie empty as well as hundreds of council houses and flats that are boarded up waiting to be demolished for ‘rejuvenation’ that may never take place.
These residences need to be opened up immediately and refurbished so as people can be afforded their very basic human rights. So what happens the €100 million? How much is spent on fat cat salaries? How many of these so called non government organisations that receive the grants actually spend it on the homeless and ending homelessness?? These charity organisations are simply carrying out Government remits and they employ hundreds of individuals with the money that needs to be spent directly on the homeless. The ‘economy of the poor’, the ‘economy of the homeless’ is solely for the benefit and upkeep of the many agencies that are now falling foul of their original intention and their christian duty. They are in effect ‘poverty pimps’ and an arm of Government and have simply agency captured a lucrative market for their own pseudo sentimentalized, spiritualized culture. The housing of people is not a charity and never can be, it is a fundamental human and civil right. Open up the boarded up houses in our country, cities and towns and give the people a home.
These images above are from a recent protest outside Dublin City Hall regarding the take over of the YMCA at Aungier Street by Depaul Ireland who want to empty the premises of all the current residents so that they can set up their clients in residence there in line with so called Government policy. At present YMCA accommodates alcohol and drug free male and female individuals who in principal are in recovery programs and abstinence programs from alcohol and drugs. YMCA’s accommodation units at Aungier Street/Peters Row is one of the safest and productive in the city. It has the trust of the entire community, an important thing. That trust is now about to be broken as Depaul Ireland and the YMCA are going to turn this establishment into what can only be described as an emergency wet hostel accommodation. The stability of the residents that are there at present is now being seriously undermined by these moves and their well being is in jeopardy. DePaul and YMCA are merely agents of the State at this point carrying out a Government remit having gotten their hands on a substantial amount of tax payers money from the Homeless executive. I have attended a number of meetings on this issue with DePaul, the YMCA and the residents and have called on them not to proceed with this new regime and practice and to continue with the successful model that has been in operation for a number of years at the YMCA. They are breaking the trust of the local community and the residents of the YMCA in order to access funds and build on their own empire at the expense of all. Please show your support for the residents of the YMCA by contacting the YMCA (paulmcdonald@ymca.ie) and Depaul Ireland (kerry.anthony@depaulireland.org) and Dublin City Council Homeless section or myself (mannix.flynn@dublincity.ie)
I intend in the near future to create a formidable challenge to DePaul and the YMCA to rethink their strategy in the interest of all.
Mannix Flynn 