Tullamore Church leaders to hold public meeting on homelessness

Four local church leaders have called a public meeting so that everyone in the community can learn about the extent of homelessness and about ways they can help.

Fr Shane Crombie, Tullamore Parish, Rev Isaac Delamere, Church of Ireland, Rev William Hayes, Presbyterian Church, Rev Clodagh Yambasu, Methodist Church issued a joint statement this week, in which they highlight their concerns.

They said: “During the recent days of snow, ice, fog, wind and chilly weather, the thoughts of many people in our county and nation have turned to those who are homeless.

“The severe weather caused problems for all of us but for those living in temporary accommodation, overcrowded family homes or in roadside caravans or hotel rooms for the homeless, the cold weather has brought an added level of misery.

“Homelessness is the defining crisis of modern Ireland. Ireland is the fifth wealthiest country in the world per head of population (ahead of both the United States and the UK) and yet in December 2017, 8,587 people were officially homeless in Ireland and out of those, 3,079 were children.

“As local church leaders, we experience day to day the stresses and strains on those connected to our churches who go through the pain and difficulty of homelessness.

“Some of that homelessness is invisible. Many people live in single hotel rooms with little access to services or facilities that many people take for granted such as the ability to wash your clothes at home or to cook your own food.

“Some of that homelessness is very visible. Due to the closure of local halting sites, many young Traveller families are forced to live on the roadside in dangerous conditions for their children. They are not officially classed as homeless and yet do not have a place where they can call home during these cold and windy months.

“As churches, we want to call the community together to think, reflect and act on homelessness. We need to work together as a community to find practical ways in which we can help make homelessness a thing of the past in Ireland.

“To this end we want to call a public meeting so that the people of our community, along with our politicians, business, religious and civic leaders can learn together about the extent of homelessness in our county and island and learn about ways that we can work together to help.”

The event is on March 20 at 7.30pm. It will be hosted by Vincent Browne, who will chair a panel of experts, including Fr Peter McVerry, Damien English and Bridget Quilligan. To ensure that as many people as possible can attend we will hold the event in the Church of the Assumption. We would strongly encourage as many people as possible to come along and to make your concerns heard by your presence.

“We want to thank the local councillors and TDs, civil, business and religious leaders who have already agreed to come and take part and we hope that this might be the start of a movement to end homelessness in our county.”