Charity comes to rescue of ‘new poor’ as man found living in car
The married man had developed a serious alcohol problem after he lost his job and had been asked by his wife to leave the family home. Regional president Brendan Dempsey said a concerned local, who had watched him in the car for several nights, contacted the charity. The man is now living at the 51-bed Deer Park House in Friars Walk where key workers are hoping to eventually re-integrate him back to a more normal life.
Mr Dempsey says this man is just one of thousands of the “new poor” St Vincent de Paul have met since the economy collapsed. He is increasingly concerned that “something has to be done by the Government for these poor families” whose worlds have been turned upside down by unemployment and debt.
St Vincent de Paul has repeatedly called for fuel allowances to be paid biannually to those on social welfare and on low incomes. The method of paying fuel allowance is an anachronism, based on the old practice of buying a bag of coal weekly, Mr Dempsey says.
“These people are paid a fuel allowance for 32 weeks of the year. They’re paid about €24 or €25 a week. But you can’t go down to the oil company looking for €24 worth of oil.
“For years, we have been asking for a lump payment so Mary or Janice or whomever can order half a tank of oil. If there were two lump sums paid over the year, it would make a huge difference to a family and wouldn’t cost the taxpayer anything,” he said.
It irks St Vincent de Paul that nobody in Government is willing to enable solutions to problems they see every day such as the effects of alcohol abuse and illegal moneylending.
“We have a situation in this country where moneylenders are allowed charge people 183% interest, sucking the last drop of blood out of families. I’m calling on the Government to change the law and bring that down to about 20%. That would cost the taxpayer nothing and it would give people breathing space.
“Also they have allowed supermarkets to sell alcohol below cost as a loss leader. Drink has never been cheaper. Cheap alcohol is a gateway to binge drinking and day after day, we watch the sad consequences of that,” Mr Dempsey said.
