“We have waited too long; we desperately need the department to fund this,” says Shay L’Estrange, coordinator with Ballyfermot Traveller Action Project.
“It is Victorian-era legislation,” says Mike Allen, director of advocacy at Focus Ireland. “This approach is rooted in poor law provisions and is widespread in homeless services across the world.”
Misinformation from council officials, and responses to queries that are less than true, are stopping councillors from carrying out their duties and advocating for vulnerable people, says independent Councillor Anthony Flynn.
Emails and a recorded phone call between DRHE staff and Louisa Santoro of the Mendicity Institution show how homeless people can be turned away by the council, even on nights where there are tens of spare beds.
At recent council meetings, councillors backed a plan to cut down further on using glyphosate on weeds, and voted to protect a trio of city-centre buildings.
“Your ideas are very very good and I will definitely be looking at them more,” said Dublin City Council Senior Engineer Neil O’Donoghue to one local resident.
“The same thing could happen again. There is absolutely no reason why it wouldn’t,” says James Larkin, who commutes by bike past the spot near the new children’s hospital building site.
“The Irish Council for Psychotherapy has about 4,000 therapists, and right now I have less than 10 people,” says Ejiro Ogbevoen, the founder of Black Therapists Ireland.
