GAA STARS IN NEW INITIATIVE TO HELP BROADER COMMUNITY
OVER 400 PLAYERS SLEEP OUTSIDE TO HIGHLIGHT PLIGHT OF THE HOMELESS
Around 400 GAA stars of past and present raised close to €200k for homeless charities by holding sleep-outs across the country last weekend.
The group, made up of inter-county hurling, camogie and gaelic football players, organised the charity event under the banner of new social action group Gaelic Voices for Change, with a sleep-out in Cork at the city’s High Court building.
Twelve events were held across the country, with the largest taking place outside Dublin’s GPO, where around 100 former and current players bedded down in a sleeping bag for the night.
Solidarity sleep-outs were also held in New York, Boston and a one-player event in Quebec.
For former Cork camogie captain Anna Geary, Ballyhea, the sleep-out was a wake-up call to the extent of the homeless crisis.
“We got to see the reality for some Irish citizens and other citizens on our streets and it’s frightening,” she told Independent.ie.
“This is what the GAA is all about. It’s about people coming together and including each other and helping each other out in times of need.”
Despite this, Ms Geary, who will be participating in the next season of Dancing With the Stars, said there was a lot of goodwill from people on the streets.
“At around 3 or 4am, there was a lot of people coming out from nightclubs and they stopped and spoke to us and asked us what we were doing.
“They were putting their hands in their pockets and probably giving us more than they had realised, but they wanted to help and do their small part.”
“To think that one in three people out there on the streets is a child, for a country so small to have the highest rate of child homelessness is frightening. It’s completely unacceptable.
“When I came home I was wired, I expected to just fall into bed but I couldn’t sleep, I couldn’t stop thinking about it. It was just one night for me but that’s every night for so many. That will linger long afterwards, hopefully the message was strong enough to get some change.”
Members of Gaelic Voices for Change, which is supported by the GPA, includes Tipperary hurlers Brendan Maher and Patrick ‘ Bonner’ Maher, Waterford hurler Noel Connors, Cork footballer Valerie Mulcahy, former Wexford hurling captain Diarmuid Lyng, 2013 Footballer of the Year Michael Darragh Macauley, his former Dublin teammate Eamon Fennell, fellow Sky Blue Sinéad Finnegan, Tyrone footballer Gemma Begley and Cavan’s Alan O’Mara.
Donations will be made to numerous homeless charities across the country, including Peter McVerry Trust, DePaul, the Simon Communities, Focus Ireland and the Capuchin Day Centre.
Homelessness campaigner Peter McVerry paid tribute to those who took part in the sleep-out.
“By a huge, national organisation like the GAA , with extraordinary credibility coming here tonight, that puts great pressure on the political system, because homelessness is a political problem,” he said.
There are now 8500 people homeless in Ireland, which currently has the highest rate of child homelessness in Europe.
There has been a 24 percent rise in homelessness in the last year, according to Focus Ireland.
Multiple All-Ireland winner Valerie Mulcahy, Rockbán, is on teh steering committee of the new initiative.
“I’m delighted to support this campaign. I feel like it’s important to use our voices as players and help those that are vulnerable in our society, not turn our back on them. That is why I am taking part and doing what I can to help,” she said.
“It’s not acceptable to have people homeless in Ireland. Gaelic Games are built on communities, with a collective sense of belonging and supporting your neighbour. This sleepout is a wider expression of that ethos by the players involved, extending a helping hand to others in our community.”