Money for Dáil gym 'should go to homeless'

A GROUP campaigning for the homeless has called on the Government parties to drop plans for a Dáil gym and give their social conscience a workout instead.

Focus Ireland said they were disappointed to discover a €1m gymnasium for Leinster House was still on the cards despite spending cuts in other more deserving areas.

The group wants the money to be diverted to housing and other key services for the homeless, claiming that to go ahead with the gym in the current difficult financial circumstances would be proof of a Government that has its priorities all wrong.

"This once again shows how out of touch the Government is with problems such as homelessness, that it is cutting spending on housing while splashing out on a new gym for TDs who could easily afford to pay to join their gym if they wanted," said Focus Ireland chief executive Declan Jones.

The Dáil gym has been mooted for several years but the Office of Public Works, which handles all State-owned buildings, was finally told to cost the project last year.

The plan was seized on by the Estimates Review Committee as one that should be sacrificed when the national purse came under pressure late last year but the OPW said yesterday while they had not been asked to progress the plan any further, they had not been told to scrap it either.

Latest figures show that more than 6,000 people are homeless and 50,000 households are on local authority housing waiting lists a 24% increase on the last count in 1999.

"Nearly half of these people have been on the waiting lists for one to four years and, most worryingly, 15% have been on the list for over four years. It's just not good enough that it could take up to 30 years to clear the waiting lists at the current level of housing output," Mr Jones said.

"Amazingly, it's in this climate that the Government has cut the spend on social housing."

Mr Jones warned the problem would get worse because of continued increases in private rents and house prices which would push on to waiting lists more people who were previously able to provide accommodation for themselves.