Tag Archives: homeless

A HEALTHCARE assistant in Shannon is currently living in his car, with apparently little prospect of finding a place to live in the town. James McCarthy now sleeps in his Toyota Yaris, while he feeds himself with fast food. Although he has been estranged from his wife for years and they are divorced, she allows him to take showers at her house. He said that he has tried to get accommodation in homeless hostels, but there isn’t a place available, particularly with Covid prevalent. While he works full time in a role that requires Garda vetting on a regular basis, he feels that his membership of the Travelling community counts against him when it comes to renting accommodation. “They still look at me as a McCarthy knacker from Limerick. I’m not known to the Gardai, I’m a quiet man, I’ve never blackguarded anyone, but people watch things,they see things, and this is what they think.” He left his last house …

THERE has been an increase in the number of adults accessing emergency accommodation in Clare in the past month. Department of Housing figures for the period September 21-27 show there were 67 adults in the county in emergency accommodation, up from 60 the previous month. The homelessness report also indicates a total of 67 dependents in emergency accommodation across the Clare-Limerick area. Chief Executive of Mid West Simon Jackie Bonfield said there are reasons to believe that homelessness will be an increasing problem in the coming months. “If there is one person homeless it is one person too many and we are expecting it to get worse because a lot of people will be in difficulty because of having lost their jobs and because of Covid. “There has been a stay on evictions but that doesn’t protect everybody. If somebody is part of a household and the family unit breaks down, it doesn’t protect the person who has to leave …

THE Society of St Vincent de Paul (SVP) has announced that it is planning to transfer the management of hostels including Laurel Lodge in Ennis to other homeless charities with specialist expertise in the sector. The society says that it believes that the move will benefit those who use the services of its hostels as managing homeless hostels is moving beyond the capacity of a volunteer-led organisation such as SVP. As most of the funding for the hostels comes from the state SVP is in discussion with the respective local authorities and the HSE to facilitate the transfer of its services. There are nine hostels involved which between them have almost 300 beds per night for homeless people. In addition to Laurel Lodge in Ennis they are in, Carlow, Cork (2), Limerick, Longford, (2) Waterford and Wexford. Laurel Lodge provides 13 places for homeless men. SVP National Secretary Andy Heffernan says that as a volunteer-led organisation, the SVP structure is …

50 households have exited homeless services since the introduction of the Homeless Action Team, a meeting of Clare County Council has revealed. Latest figures have highlighted that as of August 21, 2020 there were 62 new homeless presentations in the county, and 339 repeat presentations. Details were outlined following a query by Councillor Donna McGettigan seeking “the true figures” for the homeless situation in Clare by area. She stated that she has been contacted by people are living on couches, asking what is the council’s plan to “end homelessness”. Anne Haugh, director of social development detailed it is not possible to breakdown the homeless list by area. The figures showed 15 homeless families receiving emergency accommodation as at August 21. There were 60 adults and 21 dependants. She outlined that the Homeless Action Team was introduced on February 1, 2019. From that date until December 31, 2019 a total of 26 households, made up of 33 adults and 36 dependants …

ENNIS parish priest Fr Tom Ryan has often had to mop up urine and worse in Ss Peter and Paul’s Cathedral after the mess left by people who frequented the building to smoke and drink alcohol. Fr Ryan, who became parish priest in his home town last July, has now adopted a “zero tolerance” to anybody “hanging around the cathedral or its grounds”. “When I was appointed parish priest, I soon became aware of a small number of homeless people with addiction problems who frequented both the grounds of the cathedral and the cathedral itself. Their presence was a cause of concern for many parishioners, especially the elderly who come both to the adoration chapel and the cathedral to pray each day. “I also witnessed people in the cathedral, smoking, drinking alcohol and urinating in public. I often had to clean up and mop up after them….you can imagine. This type of behaviour is not acceptable in a consecrated building,” …

A HOMELESS mother-of-two says she is at breaking point over the stress of having to move from hotels to bed and breakfast accommodation in recent weeks. Last July, the woman, who has an 18-month-old son and a 16-year-old daughter, who is in the care of a relative until she gets a house, got an initial four-week termination notice from a house in South-East Clare. Following another two-week notice to quit the property, which involved receiving a Housing Assistance Payment (HAP) from the council, she was officially declared homeless on August 31. The woman, who does not wish to be named, has asked the council to allocate a house for her and her son as quickly as possible on humanitarian grounds. Since the receipt of the notice, she told The Clare Champion she has been forced to move with her baby son between the Auburn Lodge Hotel, Treacy’s West County and various bed and breakfasts. Having spent the last three weeks …

AN emergency housing unit for homeless people is set to be established in Ennis. Clare County Council is searching for a property in the town for the unit, director of service Liam Conneally has confirmed. At a meeting of the Strategic Policy Committee (SPC), Mr Conneally said a bid was made for a property last year but it proved unsuccessful. A second option was considered but the cost of the fit-out was higher than anticipated. The council has now increased its bid for the first property. SPC member Dermot Hayes said, “Homelessness has more than quadrupled and it’s tragic to see so many houses lying idle.” Mr Conneally acknowledged that the acquisition of a property “has taken a lot longer” than anticipated but he said it would be operating as soon as possible. In terms of location, he said the unit “has to be central”. Trade union representative Tom Guilfoyle urged the council to borrow money to allow more houses …