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Ministerial response to homeless protest raises serious questions national |
housing |
feature
 Thursday December 22, 2005 11:44 by Observer2 observer.two at gmail dot com
On the evening of Tuesday 27th September a group of homeless people slept out at the gates of Dail Eireann. The sleep out passed off peacefully and would have been considered successful insofar as it attracted media attention. However the protest not only caught the attention of the media, it caught the attention of the minister responsible Noel Ahern T.D.
Alarmed by the attention, and armed with a factual inaccuracy the ministers office allegedly contacted the Homeless agency seeking information on the organisers, whom the ministers office believed were employees of one of Dublins homeless charities De Paul Trust. The mistake by the ministers office as to who the organisers were seems to have been based on two points:a misunderstanding of an interview given by one of the protesters in which he stated he was from Aungier Steet wet shelter, a project managed by D.P.T. In fact the interviewee was a resident and not a staff member. And secondly the belief that the homeless could not have organised without “professional” help.
The Homeless agency then allegedly contacted D.P.T central office to voice the ministers concerns. Whether D.P.T were expecting the call is not known, however it appears that their P.R person Eibhlin Byrne, who is a F.F councillor for the Clontarf area of the city, immediately set about trying to establish the names of the “activists” from Aungier Street . Coincidentally the manager of the Aungier street project was in De Paul central office that morning, and he was requested to conduct an investigation to ascertain the identity of the D.P.T employees who had allegedly organised the protest the night before and spoken to the media at the event. When it became clear to him that the investigation was to be “unofficial” he refused to be involved on the basis that such an investigation would be in breach of procedure and a stand up row ensued between him and Ms. Byrne. The row described by a witness as “a screaming match” was overheard by a number of staff who were in D.P.T central office for training. The minister in answer to a written dail question has refused on “operational grounds” to confirm wheter he made the call that morning to the Homeless agency . Implicit in his reply is the answer to the question, clearly had the minister or his office not made the call he would have no difficulty in saying so. That he has not denied it leads to the conclusion that a Fianna Fail junior minister, ably assisted by his party colleague Cllr. Byrne attempted to silence the voice of dissent against F.F policy from active trades unionists employed by D.P.T. This, if it proves to be true, constitutes a serious abuse of power by the minister. It also raises serious issues within D.P.T, if one of it's central office management team is also attempting to silence those employees critical of her parties policy. That her attempt to do so was in the form of an unofficial investigation must be worrying for the trades unions representing D.P.T staff given that such targeting of active trades unionists is a serious breach of worker protection legislation.It must also be worrying for senior management of the organisation as such action would no doubt be a serious breach of it's policy and procedure and indeed could result in court action. A De Paul Trust trades union source who wished to remain anonymous for fear of reprisal had this to say when contacted for comment: "It is alarming, but not a surprise to me as Byrne has made her anti trades union attitude well known. What is worrying is the fact that senior management attempted to target trades unionists who were merely attempting to highlight the disgracefull attitude that the government is taking to deal with homelessness. These same management might be better occupied concerning themselves with the extremely serious Health and Safety issues in the hostels they are supposed to be paid to manage" This is not the only controversy Ms. Byrne has been involved in at D.P.T. Sources indicate that there is serious disquiet in all levels of the organisation that Cllr. Byrne is using the organisation and the homeless issue to build her political profile in advance of the next local and general election. This comes on the back of Cllr. Byrnes photo recently appearing in both weeks of a two week Sunday Tribune special on homelessness where she misrepresented herself as having been elected on a homeless ticket and the apparent misrepresentation of her position with D.P.T when she was described in the recent primetime special as being "Eibhlin Byrne, Aungier Street wet shelter" despite the fact that not only does she not work in Aungier street wet shelter but has been in the project on only a few occassions. The whole affair raises serious issues for the Minister, the Homeless agency, De Paul Trust and Cllr. Byrne. That it does so for Cllr. Byrne comes at a bad time for Fianna Fail in the Clontarf area, given the recent resignation from his junior minister portfolio of Ivor Callelly who according to his own promotional material “works closely with his Dublin City Council colleague, Cllr. Eibhlin Byrne, on all council matters”. During the 2004 campaign Callely sent out letters to his constituents urging them to vote for Byrne who was considered lucky to be elected on the 9th count in Clontarf at the 2004 election after an extremly close contest with Greens candidate Bronwen Maher and despite polling less than 7% of the first preference vote and less than half a quota. Byrne had been co opted on to Dublin City Council in 2003, replacing party colleague Sandra Geraghty. It seems that a culture has developed within the current F.F/P.D administration of using all means at it's disposal, including abuse of power, to silence all opposition to it's policies. Given their reluctance to provide answers to reasonable and pertinent questions it should be no surprise if the people give them their answer at the next general election. Meantime the homeless continue to live, organise and protest on the streets of Ireland. Perhaps they should consider contesting Clontarf seats in the next local elections on a real homelessness ticket, now that would really get the minister attention.
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Comments (18 of 18)
Jump To Comment: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18The bit about byrne only being in Aungier street on a few occasions is true, she only turns up there for photo opportunities.......pretty sick when you think about it.
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Working for who, exactly?
Cllr. Byrne is Chairperson of the National Council on Ageing and Older People, an advisory agency to the Minister for Health.
The Council consists of not more than 30 members, each of whom is appointed by the Minister for Health and Children, presumably on the recommendation of his Junior minister with responsibility for that area.
Coincidentally Ivor Callely was Junior Minister with responsibility for the elderly at the Dept of Health from 2002 until his recent demise.
the plot thickens...
http://www.ncaop.ie/index.html
Need to dig really deep on this one.
I will link this and circulate it amongst the many supportive Northern Networks and Southern contacts shortly once more info is gathered.
This as so people can see what these people are like when it comes to attempting to support some of the most vulnerable in society
There are questions that need answered here, and as stated before -fire and petrol -spring to mind.
Putting aside such a stance and attacks on those standing up for some of the most -vulnerable in society - do these 'politicos' have any sense at all?
Might run for 'office' sometime myself, it seems like child's play -if these are the 'brains' that seek to give societal lead.
These people have the concept of ‘Power before People’ - while many on this site have the understanding of ‘Power of the People and to the People’
- but first let's Speak truth to power - and let all know.D
Should the fact that a councillor is supposedly acting as a PR person for De Paul Trust not ring a few bells?
It is surely the reverse and was always the intention that the position is use the association with DPT to generate PR for themselves.
Do DPT get state aid? I presume so and if so then this is obviously the mechanism to ensure they the government can contain the homeless problem and ensure that it nevers gets out of hand and causes a political problem for them.
'political problem' {for themselves} - that's it - as that is simply how they see it.
That needs to change, by all and any means that can be used to continue to high light this issue.,
Cometh the new year
The posters used were old Labour ones, its is as clear as day the protesters were put up to it.
Former D.P.T Aungier Street I.M.P.A.C.T shop steward Mr. Damien Moran,
who has since left de Paul Trust had the following to say when contacted for
comment: "I always found the dignity, honesty and humanity of the homeless people I worked with was in strong contrast to the back-stabbing poverty pimping engaged in by charity personnel. This is the price the powerful pay when disengaged from the grassroots of social justice activism. The homeless are viewed merely as market commodities, and not fellow human beings with real lives and stories.
The compromising role of being both a Fianna Fail public representative and PRO for a mainstream charity is harmful. It leads to mutual back-scratching on corridors of power, far removed from the cold, damp concrete pillows that almost destroy the dignity of our brothers and sisters sleeping rough. The abysmal record of Fianna Fail's dealing with homelessness is testimony to their impersonalism and lack of care about those on the margins.
The homeless have been ostracised and left to pick up the crumbs from political misleaders and charity bureaucrats. We cannot allow those hungry to maintain and gain more political power to stand on the heads of our homeless friends, who are bravely struggling to reclaim their dignity. As the homeless continue to organise themselves and speak truth to oppose the Irish gvt.'s convoys of lies, we should continue to support their revolt and offer our solidarity."
Now...
Re: Jackie
"The protesters were supported by Labour.
The posters used were old Labour ones, it is as clear as day the protesters were put up to it."
Excellent news, now I know who to vote for next time (pray it's soon). Seriously though, it is common practice to re-use old election posters. Especially if you get the plastic ones, - waterproof, don't you know.
With regard to the protestors being 'put up to it'. I very much doubt that. The homeless people I spoke with on the Sleepout, the Protest and Occupation at Parnell Square, and the Dail invasion, gave the impression that they had nothing to lose. So what, they said, if we get arrested ... isn't it a warm bed for the night. To suggest that they were coerced makes a lie of their situation. It would be as nonsensical to suggest that they became homeless and slept on the streets just to make FF and the PD's look bad.
Street Seen, the campaign group for homeless people in Dublin, is going to bring its hard-hitting message to the door of the Taoiseach’s own constituency office in Drumcondra in the new year.
Street Seen has brought over 20,000 petition signatures to the gates of the Dáil twice in the past month, but the Taoiseach has yet to come out and meet the group.
Street Seen spokesperson Mark Grehan told Daily Ireland yesterday that after Bertie Ahern twice failed to accept the 20,000 signatures that the group had gathered on the issue of homelessness, the campaign will now go to the Fianna Fáil’s leader’s office.
“We are not just disappointed that he [the Taoiseach] failed to come out and take the signatures from us, we were angry that he or nobody in the cabinet have properly faced up to this issue,” said Mr Grehan.
Around 20,000 signatures have been gathered over the last couple of months calling on the government to hand over the proceeds of the sale of the old UCD veterinary site in Ballsbridge to Dublin City Council for the purposes of eradicating homelessness.
Last month the site was sold for €171 million (£115 million).
“We have got over 20,000 signatures which is amazing and the reaction from ordinary people in Dublin to our campaign has been brilliant,” said Mr Grehan yesterday.
“There will be many people in Dublin sleeping rough this Christmas.
“But there is so much we want to see the government do in the new year on the issues surrounding homelessness.
“We want the government moving from supplying emergency accommodation to more permanent accommodation.”
Mr Grehan said the government was not keeping up with its own targets for local authority houses.
“We also need more counsellors because many homeless people have mental health problems and need that type of support.
“We only have 30 detox beds available at the moment in Dublin for a population of 15,000 heroin addicts.
“It is time for the government to act on this.
“We have already wasted enough money on dodgy computers with e-voting and other wastes of taxpayers’ money.”
Street Seen was established in November 2004, as a campaigning anti-poverty paper, primarily to be sold on the streets of Ireland, North and South, by members of the homeless community or those affected by poverty directly.
Homelessness is always an issue at Christmas time and a recent RTÉ Prime Time programme on the issue and Street Seen’s very visible and active campaign has brought it to the fore once again.
“Obviously, there will be a focus on the homeless at this time of the year, but in January we will be keeping our campaign up to highlight that homelessness is a problem all year round,” said Mr Grehan.
The recent comments from minister for housing and urban renewal, Noel Ahern (FF), that he did not believe that housing should be a constitutional “right” have been attacked by the Labour party.
“The comments made by the minister dismissing the fundamental human right to housing are in direct opposition to government policy on housing as stated in the National Anti-poverty Strategy,” said Deputy Eamonn Gilmore (Lab) yesterday.
“They also contradict the numerous international treaties we have signed as members of the UN and fly in the face of the progress being made under the Good Friday Agreement by the two human rights commissions to progress social and economic rights throughout the island of Ireland.
“Moreover, while the government cannot do anything about the personal circumstances, such as marital breakdown or alcoholism, specific policy measures such as failing to control house price inflation or to provide sufficient levels of affordable housing have exacerbated the problem.”
According to the Simon Community, 5,581 people were counted as being homeless by the local authorities in March 2002.
It is believed that these figures are an underestimation of the problem.
Eighty-seven per cent of those counted as homeless were found in the five main urban areas of Dublin, Cork, Galway, Limerick and Waterford.
In fact, 35 out of the 90 local authorities recorded no homeless persons in their areas.
The Simon Community questions the accuracy of the figures recorded, strongly believing that the true extent of the homeless crisis is much more extreme than the current limited data portrays.
Prime Time Investigates
http://www.rte.ie/news/2005/1219/primetime.html
http://www.streetseennews.blogspot.com/
think the site needs a little update
expect action dancing and theatre on the streets
International Homeless Forums @ http://forums.homeless.org.au
There is an Irish Section that is updated regularly
More Details also @ http://www.indymedia.ie/newswire.php?story_id=70316
This piece shows the extent to which people have to go to get a bed to sleep in. The homeless man got little sympathy from the HospitalThe full story is at the link.
"Patient finds vagrant in ward bed
A London hospital has apologised to a patient after he returned to his room to find a vagrant asleep in a bed. Brian Dagger, 64, was in the Central Middlesex Hospital after breaking his back in a scooter accident.
After leaving his bed briefly, he returned to his room to find a homeless man asleep in one of the beds.
A spokesman for North West London Hospitals NHS Trust said it was "very sorry" for any distress caused and said it would investigate. "
The past week has seen some serious developments in the homeless issue in the city.
Firstly, last weekend saw the death of Eddie Black who had been a well known figure among dublins homeless. Eddie, who had recently featured on newstalk 106's charity competition (speaking as a resident of Aungier St wet shelter), was frequently to be seen in Dublins south city centre. His passing follows less than six months after the passing of his long time close friend Nina McManus.
Also in the last week a fire destroyed a well known homeless squat in Dublin, luckily noone was killed in the blaze.
It has also been confirmed that the H.S.A have written to D.C.C on foot of a complaint recieved from a staff safety officer. The complaint related to the dangerous condition of D.C.C's builduing also in Aungier st., which is operated by De Paul Trust and which, despite being a four story building accomodating up to 22 homeless people, has no fire escape. This despite the fact that it is housing people who are frequently heavily intoxicated and allowed to smoke throughout the building. It is understood that the H.S.a gave D.C.C 7 days to respond with proposals as to how they intend to rectify the situation which has pertained since the opening of the hostel and indeed prior to that when the building was used to house asylum seekers. We can only hope that a fire does not break out in this building as there can be no doubt that such an eventuality would result in serious loss of life.
Having been involved in the recent protests, I think that some of the coments are unjust and untrue about support and alliance who we are with .We collected 20 thousand signatures regardless of who them people where. They seemed to care and recognised, that there was a problem and that needed to be addressed .Street seen have and will continue to try to put an end to this injustice regardless of whos support they receive.
We listened , twenty thousand did also, SO STOP THE BEGRUDING STREET SEEN CARES AND WILL CONTINUE TO CARE, WE WILL NOT GO AWAY.
john saunders here eddie was a personal friend.He died so did lots of others and still continue to do so.Street seen is still ignored , i am not and will not be .A puppet in a pupprt show.We collected 20 thousand signatures so did eddie we say no more deaths on the streets we mean it .DO THE LAW ENFORCEMENT WANT TO SEE AN ANGRY CROWD TURN NASTY OR DO THEY WANT VTO LISTEN TO 20 THOUSAND SIGNATURES. EITHER WAY'NO MORE DEATHS ON OUR STREETS ,.