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Updated 7.30pm
FR PETER MCVERRY has called for the immediate closure of the Merchants Quay Night Café, and taken issue with claims from Dublin City Council that there are enough emergency beds for every homeless person who needs one.
The veteran homelessness campaigner has taken issue with an affidavit from the head of the Council’s homeless agency given in court at yesterday’s Apollo House hearing. The Dublin Region Homeless Executive director, Dáithí Downey, said that there was a bed available for every homeless person who needed one.
The latest rough sleeper count in the city, conducted a month ago, found that 142 people were bedding down in public areas – with an additional 77 people sleeping on a mat on the floor of the Merchants Quay facility.
McVerry, who gave an affidavit in court yesterday in support of the activists who have turned Apollo House into an accommodation centre for the homeless, said people who called the Council’s freephone hotline to seek emergency shelter were being sent to sleep on the floor of the Night Cafe instead of being given a proper bed.
He welcomed the opening of an additional beds since the rough sleeper count was conducted, saying that 210 extra places would be available by January, but described the quality of some of the existing emergency hostels as “a disgrace”.
“Every day in our drop in centre I have homeless people coming in to me to say they were told last night on the freephone there are no beds available, come down and collect a sleeping bag,” McVerry told RTÉ’s News at One.
There aren’t enough beds. And the lie to what Dublin City Council is saying is evident in the fact that the Merchant’s Quay Night Cafe, which accommodates up to 70 people sleeping on the floor [...] they are sent there by Dublin City Council because Dublin City Council are telling them they don’t have a bed for them within the system.
How Dublin City Council can sign and affidavit and go to court and say there is a bed for everybody – I just find that baffling.
Opened in 2014 to combat the growing number of rough sleepers on the streets of Dublin, the Merchants Quay Night Cafe accommodates dozens of people each night. Crowds gather outside each evening – and people bed down on mats laid out in one of the complex’s rooms.
Last year, a superviser at the facility – which is located on the south quays close to Christ Church Cathedral - told TheJournal.ie that around a quarter of people who stay there each night are serious drug users.
In response to McVerry’s remarks, Merchants Quay Ireland said it shares the concern that the Night Café is “not an adequate response [to rough sleeping], as all people who are homeless should have access to a bed in a safe and dignified setting”.
The statement continues: “However, in the current situation, where there is a shortage of accommodation and more people are becoming homeless, the MQI Night Café is certainly a preferable option than leaving people to sleep on the streets.
“The MQI Night Café is not the solution to homelessness and rough sleeping; the real solutions lie in the provision of appropriate emergency accommodation and adequate move-on housing options.
“However, the MQI Night Café continues to perform a vital function for people unable to access emergency accommodation and whose only other option would be to sleep on the streets…
The MQI Night Café is fully staffed by a multidisciplinary team focussed on providing options and solutions to people who are sleeping on the streets, whether that be through drug treatment, and mental health supports or links to specialised accommodation options or employment and welfare supports. To date 90% of those who have accessed the service have engaged these supports to one degree or another…
“MQI’s vision would be for a society in which the Night Café would not be required. In the current environment, however, where homelessness is a growing problem, the MQI Night Café service provides consistent and professional supports to rough sleepers whose needs are not otherwise being met.”
Apollo House
Speaking today, McVerry said the occupation of Apollo House by the Home Sweet Home group had re-ignited people’s anger about homelessness, and started a much-needed debate.
He said the focus needed to be on the quality of beds provided to vulnerable homeless people – not just on the number available.
In addition to the problems at the Night Café, he said some of the existing emergency hostels were ”an affront to the dignity of homeless people”.
Many of the venues weren’t safe, he claimed. Often people who are drug free, he said, are forced to share dormitory style accommodation with drug users – and in some cases with dealers who pressure them to use drugs.
Speaking earlier, the deputy CEO of Dublin City Council, Brendan Kenny, said it was hoped the spaces at Merchants Quay would be phased out in the next few months.
“They’re not ideal. They’re seen as a last resort,” he told Morning Ireland. Kenny said he didn’t agree with McVerry’s assessment of the state of some emergency hostels, and highlighted efforts the Council was making to move people into longer-term accommodation.
He said that on Sunday night there had been 16 emergency bed spaces free in the city, and that fifteen were free on Monday night.
Asked about those figures, McVerry said that people often had good reasons for not taking up bed places – and that in a small number of cases each night, people were able to make alternative arrangements at the last minute, and sleep in a friend’s house.
With reporting by Órla Ryan
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I was working through the night in the city last night. There were definently people ( yes. Human beings ) bedding down for the night in sleeping bags..
It’s not like politicians to lie, is it?
@The Viking: Hold on. There may be enough beds (or there may not be), that doesn’t mean people are making use of them for whatever reason. No-one ever suggested there were no people on the streets.
I suppose then thats just like your namesake.
@Charlie Melia: If it’s a lie, and experts in the field are saying they can’t believe an affadavit that was sworn by Council officials, then will that be investigated by the Gardai and charges brought for perjury Or is the breaking of law only to be punished when the slave citizens are involved.
He’s not lieing.
Are they lying?
I think we can all agree FR Peter MCVerry is the one speaking truthfully on this matter.
DCC should be ashamed of themselves in the manner the system is run.
Should be sacked the lot of them.
@Alex Falcone: __ They should all be forced to sleep on what they think is a bed, in the open air on the Dublin mountains.
Never seems to demand that his boss open up any of the countless vacant buildings or land with development potential the church owns. Maybe selective truth
@Wayne O’Fathaigh:
Pointless remark given that it’s taxpayer’s money involved.
Anyway, the religious communities in Ireland do a tremendous amount of charitable work (as you well know- I certainly would hope so anyway)
@Wayne. The Peter McVerry trust received €3.5 million in funds last year from the government. €3.4 million was used as wages for staff from the trust. It seems it’s in his best interests to keep highlighting the crisis. Otherwise he might have to hop off the gravy train.
@Michael J: https://www.pmvtrust.ie/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/PMVT-Audited-Accounts-2015.pdf
Page 23: Directors remuneration and transactions
No member of the board of directors received any remuneration during the year
(Ditto for 2014)
@Michael. Before I even check that claim out, and as someone who distrusts charity finance, I say it’s a blatant s<umbag type lie. At least make up figures that are somewhat believable.
Than you, For Connolly, just read that. I can’t understand the existence of people like Michael above or their value to humanity.
Alex, currently the second biggest land and property owner in the state is the Church, the have the facilities and assets to solve the crises overnight. They also still owe the Irish state and people 3/4 of a billion in compensation as Ort of the deal done on sexual and physical abuse. But your right Peter McVerey should. It highlight that the organisation he represents could help eradicate homelessness tomorrow if it wanted
Peter McVerry is the embodiment of a true Christian. He’s been fighting for the homeless since he had a 3 bed flat in Ballymun.
ff fg labour should of burned the bondholders https://youtu.be/27UL3tZW1bk like they promised!
Typical County Council lies and bull. Same here in Wicklow. They sent a 16 year old girl over to the football field across the road with a sleeping bag. They close the housing desk at 1pm… thats right 1pm……. They claim every week on the radio about how much funding they’ve just gotten yet havent built one single solitary house in at least 2 and a half years….. I know Rome was built in a day but at least they turned the sod on the first day…….
Agree with a lot of that – but they are a city council.
@Darren Bates: They operate the exact same way Darren. Dublin is just split up into multiple CoCos because of size…..
McFerry and Brother Kevin @ Capuchins on Church are the real heros trying to sort this mess out.
Coveney is a journeyman politician who will move onto another dept or role – without making any sort of impact.
The idea that sleeping in apollo house is somehow less safe than on the street is a prime example of offensive excuses these people come up with.
At least if you cant make a difference – dont stand in the way of those who can
Convey (deliberately misspelt ) is a career politician who is riding his parents’ corpse to death. He makes Inda seem competent.
I’d trust Fr McVerry more than I’d trust the council. If he gives a figure, I think that it’s likely to be correct
Will Dáithí Downey be investigated for lying to the court and face criminal charges if he has done so?.
Yesterday’s court judgement is now null and void.
It looks like, according to DCC, that if you’re homeless, it follows that you have either an alcohol or drug problem, or both. And a mat on the floor and a sleeping bag is good enough for you, and you should be thankful.
That dormitory style accommodation, with all the dangers from thieves, druggies, and the mentally unstable, is also good enough. I suppose the fact that we are talking about human beings doesn’t enter the equation at all. They’re just the bottom rung of society and deserve no better.
It should come as no surprise really. Anyone that depends on welfare, and public services, of whatever sort, are treated as, and considered as,a drain on the economy. Money is all that matters.
But, if you’re a bankrupt developer who borrowed billions, or a business man, well connected, doesn’t matter that an inquiry said he should be investigated for corruption, money is thrown at you. In fact bankrupt developers, got their debts paid for, and were allowed write their own welfare cheques. Ministers, their advisors, TDs, judges, councillors get 10s of thousands in salary increases. The HSE pays out 8 million a month in “goodbye” money to consultants. Do we need to mention the largesse that is a certain quango when it come to paying out money. Or the banks, private debts all paid for, and now evicting those who paid the debts. Or the Vulture Funds, considered as charities, so they pay little or no tax. Also heavily involved in evictions, and buying up property for cents on the euro.
All this shows where the government’s real interest is. Where if you’re not part of the establishment or the elite. You’re of no concern in this neo-liberal utopia.
Dare anyone try and upset this, and the state moves very fast to put a stop to you. You simply can not show any sort of social concern for anyone disadvantaged in the neo-liberal utopia. People might get a sense of their own power. And that will never do.
If there is someone in Dublin, who knows the reality of the situation, is not afraid to speak out, and actually has an admirable track record in actually doing something about this public disgrace, its Peter McVerry! In my view, letting perfectly good buildings decay unused for commercial reasons, while this goes on, is immoral. NAMA was set up by politicians on behalf of the Irish people to work for the people, not the financial industry who has been the root cause of most of these problems! -and they therefore have an ethical responsibility – not merely a financial one! And as far as Mazhars and their receivers goes, the accepted concept of ‘corporate social responsibility’ has hit a new low… Quoting Health and Safety concerns to people sleeping on the street is blatantly cynical.
Funny how he never mentions all the buildings his church ownes sitting idol! Or the vast land bank around the Archbishops palace in Drumcondra
Charities are not a substitute for a functioning and effective housing policy.
@Micheal OLainn: There is no housing policy to supply affordable housing and rent.
Therefore occupying vacant NAMA buildiings is 100% justifiable.
Once the housing humanitarian crisis has been resolved then they buildings can be returned.
The Irish people are no longer beholden to the government when it comes to NAMA buildings.
@mursim: I endorse that mursim.
Dead right too. Let’s see Eirigi get their revolutionary holes out to Ballyfermot to protest the scripted who set a building worker on fire for being involved in the construction of social housing. Louise Minihan and her animal friends have been notably very quiet on that issue.
Ye…lets close beds…thats no solution
So you call what’s in that picture beds??? Mattress Mick provided beds in Apollo House, I’ve seen better beds for dogs than what’s in that picture!
@PaulJ: Looks like a detention center but it is better than a cold doorway.
I wonder do they put up refugees in accommodation like that which is nothing more than a mat on the ground, so they f*ck!
@PaulJ: you couldn’t buy the publicity Mattress Mick got for supplying 30 scabby mattresses for the organisers to sleep on. I’ve yet to see any confirmed reports of rough sleepers being accommodated in Apollo House, I’ve only seen recorded footage of thugs and heavies stopping rough sleepers from getting in! Saint Mattress Mick my eye.
@The Outdoor Wanderer: Exactly, don’t shut down any bed or matresses until proper facilities are available.
So the government and courts are lying when they claim there is a bed for every rough sleeper.
It’s a good thing that we now have Apollo House as a permanent addition to Dublin’s homeless shelters.
Clearly it cannot even be contemplated that Apollo House close while people are still sleeping rough.
Councillors telling lies. Nahhhhhhhhh
Maybe Simon ‘Bilderberg Buddy’ Covney needs to spend a night or two in a shelter, on a mat, on the floor. Nothing like hardship to focus the mind.
There is not enough housing for permanent homes and there are not enough emergency beds. Ireland has no functioning and effective housing g policy, basically a laissez faire and non interventionist approach.
Housing and homelessness is not yet a voting issue but it is getting there.
It’s time politicians stopped lying to the Irish people.its sickening.My god pay them back in council elections and GE, remove all these liars .
@@mdmak33: When it comes to the homeless humanitarian crisis engulfing Ireland they need to be ignored.
NAMA buildings belong to us.
There are plenty of vacant buildings just asking to be occupied.
Referendum required to redefine Family Homes (shelter) as basic need, separate from the general property definition in the Irish Constitution. The German Constitution makes this distinction but it is absent in the Irish Constitution.
All EU Family Homes should be excluded from the general definition of property as in the case of the German Constitution. A Family Home is a basic need in the hierarchy of needs (shelter) and essential to life. Family Homes should be legally redefined to reflect this special status and provide this fundamental distinction to allow for specific protections to be legislated, without impinging on general property rights.
The benefits of such a constitutional change would remove existing onerous artificial barriers to home establishment for one-income families. It is essential for a successful society for your kids, grandkids and their great grandkids, otherwise only more of the same recurring mess long into the future.
https://www.change.org/p/referendum-on-family-home-rights-in-ireland
so there are no homeless on germany? All those people I saw sleeping rough in Berlin must have been irish homeless on holidays.
@Neuville-Kepler62F:@Neuville-Kepler62F:we opted out of that clause of the EU social charter
Im not sure I see how shutting down the Night Cafe is going to help though?
The tendency to paint the key players of this issue as goodies and baddies is not helping (towards a solution). This is a real crisis for sure- a result of poor timing and short termism (all politics is by essence short term!)… the baddies (anyone who represents the state/establishment) are not all bad… indeed some are as kind/caring and supportive as any Home Sweet Home Volunteer and among the Goodies (anyone who rebels against the system) have egos etc…
No one is helped by name calling. Instead a solution will be found when everyone who wants a solution respects the importance of each other (& yes, this includes those horrible people we call politicians.)
merchant quay drop in centre needs to stop the dealing outside its front door every day while they look out at it from inside the door
Absolute incredulous nonsense. An exercise mat for a mattress (missing the double in all reality) and a blanket…how does that differ in all actuality? Are these people devoid of common sense?
The overall issue is giving people a bed, yes but also: DIGNITY like these well paid job for life types do not appreciate.
Let’s highlight the nonsense and get people sorted.
So basically it is just a drugs problem?
@Fiachra Ahern Esq: no.
have your say