Cork Simon Community supports record 1,500 people in 2023

Charity says there is 'no sign' of demand for its services decreasing in 2024

Dermot Kavanagh, Director of Cork Simon Community; Orla Joyce, legal director at Heineken Ireland, and Eoin Gunn, head of business banking at AIB and Chair of the Cork Simon Ball Voluntary committee. Since it was first held in 2000, the ball has helped fundraise around €1.5m. Picture: Brian Lougheed

Cork Simon Community says it supported nearly 1,500 people in 2023 amid “unprecedented demand” for its services.

The organisation assisted a record number of people in Cork last year and it is now “meeting more people than ever before who are sleeping rough” with these numbers showing “no signs” of decreasing in 2024.

The Cork-based charity released the figures ahead of its Annual Fundraising Ball, which is taking place at Fota Island Resort on Friday, May 10.

The event, the charity says, will raise “vital funds to support men and women affected by homelessness”. Since it was first held in 2000, the ball has helped fundraise around €1.5m.

Organised by a voluntary committee made up of local business leaders, this year’s sold-out ball is being sponsored by a host of Cork-based companies with Heineken Ireland its lead sponsor for 2024.

"This is our most important fundraising event each year, raising €1.5m since it started in 2000,” said Cork Simon Community CEO Dermot Kavanagh.

“But our partnership with Heineken Ireland and the wider business community is much more than a financial contribution, it is a mutual understanding of how we can work together towards making Cork a better place — a partnership in every sense”.

Mr Kavanagh also said that “home-grown and multinational companies alike are consistent supporters” of Cork Simon Community, and that consistent support for its Annual Fundraising Ball is such that “we can be there every time someone knocks on our door looking for help when there’s nowhere else to turn”.

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“That’s real belief in people. That’s Cork at its very best,” he added.

Head of legal with Heineken Ireland, Orla Joyce, said this year's event is of "critical importance in raising much-needed funds to support Cork Simon who work in solidarity with homeless men and women, offering housing and support in their journey back to independent living”.

Ms Joyce said her firm’s long-established support of Cork Simon was “a true reflection of our commitment to Cork, since we were founded in Blackpool over 167 years ago by James J Murphy, and we share a mutual value for people and community which we see delivered through the work of Cork Simon on a daily basis.”