Rally over homelessness

Campaigners are calling for hundreds of Dubliners to turn out to show solidarity for the homeless at a rally today protesting against the recent deaths of three people sleeping rough in the city.

Independent TD Finian McGrath is joining representatives of the Labour Party and Sinn Féin as well as members of the homeless community and protesters at the demonstration outside Central Bank at 2pm today.

Ahead of the rally, Sinn Féin spokesman on social and family affairs Sean Crowe called on as many people as possible to turn out and show solidarity with the homeless.

“The recent deaths of three people sleeping rough on the streets must not be repeated,” he said.

“It is totally unacceptable that homeless people should be dying on the streets of our cities in the midst of a so-called Celtic Tiger economy.

“With winter only beginning there is an urgent need for the Government to address this issue and a big turnout on Saturday will go a long way in focusing them on what needs to be done.

The people of Dublin need to send a message to the Government that these deaths are a blight on them and their record,” Mr Crowe said.

The ‘No more death on our streets’ rally is being co-ordinated by anti-poverty paper Street Seen and organiser Mark Grehan said he hoped around 200 people would turn up in support of the campaign.

“We’re calling on the Government to put proper and effective resources in this area – it’s not just about putting a roof over people’s heads, it’s also about putting in counselling and other services,” he said.

As well as helping people who were homeless, resources were also needed to prevent people becoming homeless and to stop people falling back into homelessness, he said.

Sinn Féin Dublin councillor Daithi Doolan called on the Government to establish a task force to tackle homelessness in the capital as a matter of urgency.

“Many of our politicians applaud themselves at the fact that Ireland has one of the richest economies in the world.

“This claim is disgraced by the fact that despite the wealth, a record number of 237 people sleep on the streets of Dublin every night.

“This was brought into stark reality when three people died on our streets recently simply because they could not get accommodation on the night of their deaths,” he said.