Priest to sleep out in addicts’ squat

A young Catholic priest will wake up on Christmas morning at a condemned apartment block in Ennis frequently used by heroin addicts as a squat.

Fr Ger Fitzgerald, 34, from Castleconnell, Co Limerick, is set to brave the stormy conditions on Christmas morning by sleeping at the Fairways apartments in a show of solidarity with the poor in the town.

Explaining the motivation behind the sleep-out, Fr Fitzgerald said: “It is to show that the Church is serious about identifying with the poor, being with the poor.