Homeless charities seek to ensure protection against freezing weather amid Covid 'complications'

Tents pitched on the Grand Canal in Dublin. Picture: Stephen Collins/Collins Photos

Homeless organisations have said Covid-19 is adding extra difficulty to efforts to ensure protection from the elements as sub-zero Siberian weather conditions hit the country.

Claire McSweeney, senior manager of Dublin Simon's emergency services, said while there was sufficient bed capacity in the capital to deal with the current bad weather, it was still a task to ensure all those beds were taken, even as snow and ice warnings are issued.

She also said "the pandemic brings an extra layer of complications", particularly in terms of managing the safe movement of people.

"The beds are in place," she said. "Our job is to get people into beds.

"Our outreach team is there. For some people, it's a little bit of encouragement to get them into the accommodation. 

Then there is a small core group that will not take whatever is on offer, they just won't come in."

Ms McSweeney said for those people it was a case of ensuring they had adequate supplies and regularly checking in with them to ensure their safety.

While the Dublin Simon Outreach team has a 4x4 vehicle to ensure it can navigate the streets even if temperatures plunge amid expected heavy snowfall, Ms McSweeney said ensuring adequate staff were able to attend services which will remain open could be problematic and may require hotel stopovers for some.

The Peter McVerry Trust said it had initiated its extreme weather response in Dublin and across, Kildare, Meath and Wicklow, targeting people sleeping rough.

Peter McVerry Trust has announced it has initiated its extreme cold weather response in #Dublin and across #Kildare, #Meath and #Wicklow.

Full statement here - https://t.co/TSRV4Dx4gb pic.twitter.com/XDQ9DjvIPO

— Peter McVerry Trust (@PMVTrust) February 10, 2021

Pat Doyle, chief executive of Peter McVerry Trust said “We activated our extreme weather response at the weekend, ahead of the colder than normal weather which is expected to continue for the coming days. 

"We have been working with Dublin Region Homeless Executive as well as the Mid-East local authorities of Kildare, Meath and Wicklow. Across these four areas we have put in place additional accommodation capacity of up to 126 additional bed spaces during this extreme weather event.

“We have created a plan that allows us to deliver additional capacity across multiple locations on a staged basis dependent on the number of spaces needed and the extent of the cold weather.

"Our Housing First Intake teams across these areas have been doubled since the weekend and they are engaging people who are sleeping rough. We have put in place transport supports to go and collect people sleeping rough across these four counties and to bring them to our services.” 

Anyone using the extreme weather beds will be tested for Covid-19 prior to their arrival to ensure positive cases get appropriate support and access to isolation facilities.

Mr Doyle said: “We have also secured Covid-19 testing kits that will allow us to get 15-minute results for people we are engaging. Anyone who is confirmed as Covid positive will be brought to a Covid-19 accommodation service operated by PMVT to get appropriate medical support and to isolate. Anyone who tests negative will go to the emergency shelter.” 

In Kildare, the operating hours of the PMV emergency out-of-hours freephone service have been extended and will now run until midnight for the rest of the week and can be contacted on 1800 804 307.

In Dublin, sightings of a person rough sleeping can be notified to Dublin Simon by calling [phone], contacting [e-mail] or reporting the location of a rough sleeper using the Dublin Rough Sleeper alerts app.