Chai Brady
Recent figures highlighting increased pressure on Ireland’s homeless services due to asylum seekers must not be “exploited” as there is space for both Irish homeless and those seeking international protection.
Homelessness campaigners have insisted that pointing the finger at any group is “very wrong” and that it is up to Government to respond appropriately to growing demand for emergency accommodation.
Fr Peter McVerry, the founder of housing and homelessness charity The Peter McVerry Trust, told The Irish Catholic that while there is increased pressure on homeless services it does not mean that asylum seekers should be blamed. He said: “If you want to blame anyone, you should blame the Government for not anticipating and providing for the increased number of asylum seekers.
“It’s not their fault that they’re homeless. They have been given permission to stay in Ireland and have to find somewhere to live, so it is very much the Government’s responsibility.”
Founder of the Immigrant Council of Ireland and Focus Ireland, Sr Stan Kennedy said that “we should have room for both people seeking protection and our own people that are homeless, it is possible to do both if we are serious about it”.
“I know it is quite full [homeless accommodation], but we can make other accommodation available for people seeking protection, we must, it is our obligation. We should not be setting them up against each other at all,” Sr Stan said.
“We do not want an anti-immigration sentiment here, we’re seeing enough all over Europe with the rise of the right and it is scary so it is important that we are open to receive people.”
Fr McVerry said the issue is deeper than just capacity, warning that those exiting direct provision, just like Irish homeless, face unsafe environments in homeless hostels and could even end up being pushed into drug use and addiction.
“I have been very critical for years of much of the emergency hostel accommodation, it’s not safe, it’s full of drugs,” Fr McVerry said.
“People who are drug free just find emergency accommodation is driving them into drugs, we’re creating drug users with the emergency accommodation that we provide. Drug users also need accommodation but we need far more drug-free accommodation for those who are drug-free so they are not going get into drugs in a hostel.
He added: “Most of those people who have permission to stay will be drug free, they won’t have got into the drug scene here in Ireland. I think anybody who goes into a hostel full of drugs is in danger of becoming a drug user. Life as a homeless person is very depressing, it’s meaningless and they are the conditions that encourage and drive people into using drugs to escape the meaningless of life.”
Sr Stan reiterated this point, telling The Irish Catholic: “I would be concerned about anybody who would find themselves in that accommodation. Drugs are very prevalent, they’re very available and accessible, it’s a whole new scene in Ireland, in Dublin, it’s very easy for people who are homeless to get drugs and for them to use them. That is reality. It’s true of Irish people as well as foreign nationals. It’s not a good situation. That must be challenged, it must be changed.”
Their comments coming following Taoiseach Simon Harris saying last week that “there is an absolute direct link in our figures that are published monthly between people exiting direct provision and people presenting at homeless services”.
He said: “There is no doubt that there is a link between the migration challenge we face and the homeless challenge — not the entirety of homelessness, of course. But if you look at the figures, for example, for the month of July in Dublin, the single biggest reason people gave for presenting at Dublin homeless services was exiting direct provision.”