Protest for Government to open beds for homeless as temperatures plummet

Dozens of people lined up outside Leinster House with sleeping bags to urge the Government to open extra beds for the homeless as temperatures plummet.

“The demonstration is in solidarity with people who are homeless,” said Carly Bailey. “These people are finding themselves on the street. I found myself homeless. I lost my home. I was very lucky to be able to find somewhere to rent.

“These people need our help. They are desperate for our help. They need their dignity back. They need to be provided with homes, with wraparound services that help them get back into a regular life.”

Ms Bailey, a politics and law student at Trinity College Dublin who attended yesterday’s demonstration, said her heart goes out to homeless people, having experienced it herself as a mother of two.

“You no longer have somewhere to call your own,” she said. “We are fortunate. We have a roof over our head but we have no security of tenure. I don’t know if we’ll still be there next Christmas. My children are lucky that they have Santa to come to them in a house at the moment. I don’t know if it’ll be the same house next year. There’s just no security.

“There is somebody else who owns the key to that door and that’s not home. That’s a house.

“However, our situation pales in comparison to what some people are having to put up with. My heart goes out to them,”

More than 8,000 people are homeless in Ireland, 3,194 of whom are children living in emergency accommodation such as B&Bs or “hubs”.

Furthermore, there are more than 180 people sleeping rough on the capital’s streets. The Government promised 200 extra beds by December 18.

“We are just here to make sure the emergency beds are put in place ASAP,” said Ms Bailey. “They’re talking about December 18, and we’re talking about minus two tomorrow, I mean, we can’t afford any more deaths on the street. It’s immoral.”

A poem was read outside Leinster House during the demonstration which described the lack of dignity that homeless people are afforded: “There ain’t no dignity on the streets. There ain’t no dignity in the pissing rain.

There ain’t no dignity knowing you’re being set up to fail. There ain’t no dignity in your weakest moment becoming public entertainment. There ain’t no dignity in building houses no one can afford. This is recovery? You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.”

Artist Will St Leger, who organised the event with Inner City Helping Homeless, told the crowd: “You’re here because you couldn’t turn your faces away from the people you see on the streets every night.”

Housing Minister Eoghan Murphy yesterday told the Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning, and Local Government an extra €100m was being assigned to alleviate the housing crisis.

The supplementary estimate will provide an additional €92m to fund the Local Authority Housing Capital Programme and €8m for the National Regeneration Programme.

This additional €100m will see the housing budget for his department increase to €1.4bn for 2017. It will bring the overall budget for his department to €2.095bn for this year.

Mr Murphy said that very significant momentum is now building on the local authority housing capital programme.