Homeless may die on streets, cardinal warns

CARDINAL Desmond Connell fears someone will die on the streets if the country’s escalating homelessness problem is not resolved.

The cardinal described the rise in the number of homeless as alarming and said it was shameful so many people had to depend on bed and breakfasts and emergency hostels for shelter

He said he recognised the difficult economic decisions facing the Government but pleaded with the minister for finance “not to hurt the poor” through cutbacks in the upcoming Budget.

“We can not hide behind thinking that there will be a better time than now to prioritise tackling the root causes of the poverty which is damaging the human dignity of so many of our sisters and brothers,” he said.

Cardinal Connell repeated his call for more affordable housing for young people and couples, saying a stable

address was “absolutely essential” to the harmony of family life.

“Waiting lists for local authority housing are so long that, for many, having a place to call their own remains but a distant possibility,” he said.

He said having a home was central to establishing personal identity. “If you have a home, you know who you are, where you come from, where you go at night,” he explained. “I would be very concerned that anybody might die on the streets,” he said.

The cardinal was speaking at the publication of the annual report of Crosscare, the social care agency of the Dublin archdiocese, which doubled its night shelter capacity last year and meets a strong demand for food and clothing for the city’s poor.

Crosscare’s Food Bank, which collects surplus food from producers and retailers, provides the ingredients for 100,000 meals each year, and also runs education and training projects, emigrant and immigrant supports, meals on wheels and drug awareness programmes.

Cardinal Connell was critical of the way in which voluntary organisations like Crosscare were funded by the State which only made grants available on a year-to-year basis and which made forward planning difficult.

“The funding period should really be extended to, say, a 3-5 year investment cycle,” he said. “It must be recognised these organisations need to attract and maintain staff to continue to provide high quality services to those in need,” he said.

After the launch the cardinal refused to be drawn on the difficulties facing the Commission on Child Abuse, saying it was Crosscare’s day and he did not want to get into discussions on other matters.