Olivia Ryan at Louth County Council meeting

Homelessness crisis debated

A call went out for Louth County Council to liaise with all of the groups working with the homeless.

Councillors were updated on the rough sleeper count which took place in mid November in both Dundalk and Drogheda, where no one was found to be sleeping rough.

Director of Services, Joe McGuinness explained that the count took a different format this year as it was unannounced. It was also carried out by the council’s own staff.

He said that in previous years the local authority might have publicised the count ahead of time.

But the decision had been made for an announced visit this year, with staff gathering their own intelligence about where people might be sleeping rough.

Cllr. Johanna Byrne called on the local authority to work with all of the voluntary groups that had been set up to assist homeless people. She said there was a fear that ‘some people might fall through the cracks.’

Mr. McGuinness said the local authority had ‘great faith’ in the existing organisations such as Dundalk Simon Community and Drogheda Homeless Aid. He added that ‘food runs’ which were being set up didn’t always attract the people who needed it most. But he said the local authority would ‘talk to anyone’ if they made contact.

Cllr. Frank Godfrey added that he has come across about 20 rough sleepers in Drogheda, including three people just last week, and another man sleeping in a van with water dripping down onto his mattress.’

‘I think there is a problem with funding for housing. We are not on top of our game in terms of providing funding for housing.’

Cllr. Mark Dearey agreed, saying that he had come across a man sleeping in a garden shed, adding ‘if that is not rough sleeping I don’t know what is.’

He said the government were ‘failing incredibly’ on homelessness, rough sleeping and the whole housing issue.’

He also called for staffing and resource issues in the HSE’s outreach service to be addressed, saying ‘it is not meeting its own internal targets.’

Cllr. Conor Keelan agreed that the local authority should be working with ‘the groups on the ground.’ He added that it should be acknowledged that ‘couch surfing and squatting is a wider problem,’ and asked what the position is with people not resident in the country.

Joe McGuinness said that in a recent change to legislation, anyone who presents as homeless, no matter if they are resident in the country or not, can access emergency accommodation.

He advised councillors who come across homeless people to encourage them to present as such to the local authority.

Cllr. Emma Coffey congratulated council officials on quickly homing a father and children she had recently referred.