Vagrant-turned-writer performs first reading

A London-Irish writer who survived alcoholism, homelessness and brutal prison conditions will today give his first-ever book reading in Ireland.

John Healy, whose parents were from Co Sligo, will today attend a conference in Dublin organised by housing charity, Focus Ireland.

A broken home and an abusive father forced Mr Healy onto the streets of London at 14 and he spent the next 15 years sleeping rough with alcoholic vagrants.

He claims he was often beaten up by police and admitted to intensive care four times following overdoses on alcohol or drugs.

He finally got his life back on track after he was taught chess by a fellow inmate in prison and went on to become a UK champion at the sport.

Mr Healy’s best-selling life story, The Grass Arena was made into a BBC film in 1991 but he claims publishers have since shunned his writings, despite recommendations by Nobel-winning author, Harold Pinter.

The 64-year-old, who lives alone in a council flat in Camden, will perform a free reading of his work at today’s two-day Festival of Home conference at the Royal Hospital in Kilmainham.

“Nobody seems to want to publish my writing, maybe because I was homeless once and there is a stigma attached to that.

“I have had a lot of experiences and I know that readers out there would like access to my work and learn from it,” he said.

The award-winning Pavee Lackeen film about a Dublin Traveller family will also be screened at today’s conference and its director, Perry Ogden, will speak to the audience.

The event will also examine a recent UN Development Report which placed Ireland in 17th place in a poverty index of 18 countries. The conference aims to reignite the debate on housing in Ireland and to go beyond the self-congratulatory talk of house prices and equity.

A number of international speakers will include Prof. David Clapham, Professor of Housing at Cardiff University as well as Mick Wallace of Wallace Construction and Anna Lee, Manager of the Tallaght Partnership.

“Focus Ireland hopes that bringing together a range of key experts in housing will act to stimulate a debate around housing, home and community in Ireland and place these issues firmly on the agenda for next year’s General Election,” a spokesman said.

Focus Ireland chief Declan Jones said: “Ireland has experienced great economic success over the last decade. However, there is still more work to be done if we hope to build a truly equal society.”

“We are now at some what of a crossroads and it is up to all of us to play our part to help shape the Ireland of the future. We must ensure Ireland becomes a country of truly equal opportunities.”

He added: “We must eliminate inequalities where if you are homeless or living in poor housing this has a serious and direct impact on your life chances in areas such as health, education and employment.

“To achieve this we must have a radical rethink on housing and social policies to ensure we can eliminate such inequalities.”

The first day of the conference, entitled ShowHome, will combine art and photography to explore the meaning of home, including work by children, adults and young people using Focus Ireland’s services.

It will also feature a production of Jimmy Murphy’s play about Irish emigrants in London, The Kings of Kilburn High Road, with black actors.