Simon to phase out cigarette handouts

CADGING a few cigarettes from Dublin Simon Community volunteers on the soup run will soon be a thing of the past.

The organisation which looks after around 400 people who sleep rough on the city streets never distributed cigarettes but volunteers who smoked never minded giving a few from their pack when asked.

Now, however, Dublin Simon has decided to phase out the practice among volunteers who smoke because of plans by the Minister of Health to outlaw smoking in the workplace at the end of January.

Dublin Simon Campaign co-ordinator Noeleen Hartigan said the decision was taken more on health grounds than anything else.

“For us it is not a big thing because the amount of cigarettes given out is quite small and we never had a practice of routinely giving out cigarettes anyway,” she said.

Ms Hartigan said Dublin Simon was more concerned about the six-month wait for the rent supplement planned for the December budget.

“How can someone who had become homeless ever hope to get into private accommodation?” she asked.

Ms Hartigan said Dublin Simon was busier than ever, partly as a result of getting more funds from the Government in the last few years.

Around 3,000 adults are homeless in Dublin. “There has been a 274% increase in the number of homeless since our first official count 15 years ago,” Ms Hartigan said.

They had also witnessed a substantial change in the type of people becoming homeless. “Back in the eighties it was mostly elderly men. Now it’s women, children and entire families.

Referring to the Government’s three-year strategy to tackle homelessness, Ms Hartigan said they had never been formally asked for their views as a service working with the homeless.

“At a local level there are local homeless forums and the voluntary organisations are involved in those. The strategy came out in May 2000 and monitored by a cross-departmental team but there is not national voluntary organisations involved in that,” she explained.