Doyle’s film kills all the lies about homelessness

Compelling message for ministers and protesters NEVER AFRAID TO TACKLE THE STORIES THAT MATTER

RODDY DOYLE has developed an uncanny knack of hitting the nail on the head when it comes to difficult social issues in Ireland. Remember the groundbreaking 1994 TV series Family which addressed the issue of domestic violence head-on, especially in working class families? Will anyone ever forget Seán McGinley as Charlo confronting his wife Paula, played by Ger Ryan, because he was unhappy with his dinner? He picked up a soggy chip and dropped it on the floor with the venomous line: ‘Chips don’t bounce.’ It prefaced another bout of violence.

In Rosie, his new movie released this week, Doyle goes back to a Dublin working-class family, but this time he has confronted the human cost of the housing crisis.

It is a timely reminder of how Ireland has suffered because of the collapse of our casino banks ten years ago, and the calamitous government decision to ‘guarantee’ all their debts and loans – despite not knowing that it would become the biggest bank collapse in world history!

Our national debt stands at €201billion, the biggest per head of population in the world. This is the reason we are in the midst of a catastrophic housing crisis. But Roddy Doyle didn’t fall into the trap in Rosie of forming a circular firing party, where everyone blames everyone else for the crisis. Instead, he presents us with a glimpse into 36 hours in the life of a family, rendered homeless and trying to hide the shame, while struggling to get emergency accommodation.

By the way, director Paddy Breathnach has got award-winning performances from the three children and their parents, played by Moe Dunford and Sarah Green.

It skewers the lie that any family would deliberately declare themselves ‘homeless’ to game the system.

It also reminds us that Irish people are compassionate – just look at the support for the homelessness charities – putting the lie to a recent declaration in a national newspaper that ‘official Ireland is secretly

RICHARD HAYES was director of the National Library of Ireland from 1940 to 1967. He was also our main code breaker during the Second World War. In a masterful new biography, Marc McMenamin firmly places Hayes to the forefront of the Irish anti-Nazi campaign. You will be amazed at the amount of Nazi activity in Ireland, as elements here were seen by Hitler as his allies against the British. The book is full of fascinating anecdotes, including one Keystone Cops episode as Hayes rushes to the GPO to avail of the only photocopier in Ireland, while a friendly doctor feigns a prolonged examination of a German spy from whom Hayes had ‘borrowed’ the valuable documents!Code Breaker: The untold story of Richard Hayes, the Dublin librarian who helped turn the tide of World War II. Published by Gill.