REMARKS BY PRESIDENT MCALEESE AT THE FOCUS IRELAND 21ST ANNIVERSARY CONFERENCE ROYAL HOSPITAL
REMARKS BY PRESIDENT MCALEESE AT THE FOCUS IRELAND 21ST ANNIVERSARY CONFERENCE ROYAL HOSPITAL KILMAINHAM THURSDAY, 23RD NOVEMBER
Dia dhíbh a cháirde. Tá an-áthas orm bheith i bhur measc anseo ar an ócáid speisialta seo. Míle bhuíochas díbh as an gcuireadh agus an fáilte a thug sibh dom.
Good morning, everybody,
I’m delighted to join you for this special event marking the 21st Anniversary of Focus Ireland. My thanks to Sr Stan for her kind invitation to be with you today.
When King Henry VIII confiscated the monasteries and expelled the religious orders, one of the forgotten stories is that he created a huge problem of homelessness. Not only were the religious forced out but a massive number of poor people who had been living on the charity of the religious orders now had no-one to support them, and nowhere to live. In the following centuries, efforts by the state to address the problem often consisted of little more than coercion of the homeless to move on or to move out. They were treated with impatience and contempt and so the Bridewells and the later workhouses were often more places of punishment than places of refuge. With the wonderful work of Sr Stan, however, you might say that things have come full circle and a spiritual vocation again supports vital and caring efforts towards the provision of a home for those who find it difficult to provide it for themselves.
Since its foundation, Focus Ireland has made a significant contribution to the advances in addressing the needs of the homeless in this country. So many thousands of people at the end of their tether have found a friend and a helping hand through Focus Ireland. Last year alone, it provided services to over 5 000 people and currently provides approximately 400 units of accommodation, in addition to a range of supports, to single adults, families, children and young people at risk of homelessness. That is a record to take pride in but of course Focus Ireland’s work extends way beyond the provision of those needed services into the realms of research and advocacy where it has had a growing and significant impact on local and national policy development.
Focus Ireland has always reminded us that home is as much a social concept as it is a physical one, that beds, bricks and mortar while very important are not the beginning and end of the issue of homelessness. Full social inclusion in strong and sustainable communities, that is our ambition as a nation, and it is the thrust of your most recent report ‘Building for Inclusion”, which in turn is reflected in the new social partnership agreement ‘Towards 2016’.
Times have moved on considerably from those days back in 1985 when the word ‘homelessness’ conjured up little more than the image of a need for emergency shelter.
In what were then bleak times for many, with high emigration, high unemployment, horrifying mortgage interest rates and little investment in the rented accommodation sector, Focus Ireland set an ambitious and uncompromising agenda which drew us back to the founding spirit of our nation, to its thirst for equality expressed in the Proclamation, and its commitment to a true social order expressed in the Constitution. The poor, the marginalized, whether through disability, mental ill-health, age or whatever circumstance, and the homeless were and remain the very telling line of least resistance which expresses most cogently and clearly how far we have progressed towards the achievement of a fully inclusive society. The efforts and concern of Focus volunteers and staff have undoubtedly brought us closer than we might otherwise be. But each step forward is also a step that brings us inside a changed and changing landscape. What was sufficient to the day 21 years ago won’t do today in this world of high and higher expectations. The new immigrants now feature among the homeless and with them come new issues around language, culture, legality of status, access to education and to jobs. The nature of Focus Ireland’s work and outreach means that often it is you who are the first to notice these new stresses and strains, both on individuals and unprepared systems. You have helped us to understand and adapt to these very heady and rapidly changing circumstances and have been part of a highly successful, innovative partnership between the statutory and voluntary agencies in the area of social services.
Your organisation’s capacity to harness concern, altruism, to leverage voluntary donations and a wide range of talents, brings a very fresh dimension to debates and decisions on social responsibility within the public housing and the private rented sectors. We see the results of that capacity in the commitment Focus has to deliver 800 additional housing units by 2010. In and through that work, our society grows in understanding of the complexity of this mean phenomenon roughly called homelessness and moves far beyond the old one-dimensional emergency accommodation model to a realisation of the need to get to long-term, secure housing appropriate to the individual needs. Yes there will be a need for emergency provision, for transitional and move-on accommodation but independence, human dignity, control over one’s own life, these are best insured by being in the mainstream where a home is secure and a caring community is supportive.
Focus Ireland came into being because its founders observed those who were being overlooked and neglected and made their suffering Focus’ business. I cannot imagine what life would have been like these twenty-one years without the presence of Focus Ireland and its voice. We can be sure that for many thousands of men, women and children, it would have been doubly unendurable. Twenty-one years on, in an Ireland just embarking on its first-ever journey into widespread prosperity, your work reminds us of the purpose of the journey and its true destination. The next twenty-one years have the possibility of being the best and the most successful yet. Let us hope that Focus Ireland can say the same in twenty-one years’ time – that it will be proud of the Ireland we have created, and proud of the fact that its championing of the homeless has taken us to the fullest and most credible, social inclusion our country has ever known.
Happy Birthday Focus Ireland agus gura fada buan sibh.
Go raibh maith agaibh.