Fr Peter McVerry Outspoken priest and campaigner for the vulnerable Fr Peter McVerry SJ has urged the Government to declare the plight of the homeless as a national emergency insisting that Covid-19 “has aggravated the underlying issues.”
This comes after a report revealed that 31 homeless people have died in Dublin this year, in contrast to 35 in the entirety of 2018, and 34 in the entirety of 2019.
The Dublin Regional Homeless Executive (DRHE) said that the deaths break down as 21 men and 10 women, with three of the women dying in supported and emergency accommodation facilities.
In 2020, the cause of death for 24 of the individuals was unknown, while four deaths were attributed to suicide and three to a known medical condition.
July 2020 alone has seen ten deaths, with an “unprecedented spike” of seven deaths in the week commencing July 19.
Speaking to The Irish Catholic about Government priorities, Fr McVerry said: “I’d be very critical of their efforts to aid the homeless over the past few years. I don’t think they have treated it, ever, as an emergency. I don’t think the virus has made any difference.”
He said that “given the virus and the funding problems that are going to be there,” he can’t see social or affordable housing being built on, “anything like the required scale”.
“I think it’s an emergency, and I think it’s a priority. I think the virus has shown up the problem in a different light because homeless people in hostels tend to be in congregated settings. You can have three or four to a room. There’s no social distancing.
“You could be in a room tonight with three people and in a room tomorrow night with three different people, so it has highlighted, similar to the Direct Provision centres, the inadequacy of services for homeless people,” the Jesuit priest said.