REMARKS BY PRESIDENT McALEESE AT THE OFFICIAL OPENING OF THE P.A.C.E. CONFERENCE ON HOMELESSNESS
REMARKS BY PRESIDENT McALEESE AT THE OFFICIAL OPENING OF THE P.A.C.E. CONFERENCE ON HOMELESSNESS AND CRIME
Tá an-áthas orm bheith anseo i bhur measc inniu agus tá mé buíoch daoibh as an fáilte chaoin a chur sibh romham.
It is a great pleasure to be here with you today at All Hallows to officially open the PACE Conference on Homelessness and Crime. My special thanks to Lisa Cuthbert for inviting me to be with you and address you.
The last ten years or so have seen good days for Ireland. Our economy has been booming and we can be both justifiably proud for this and also count our blessings. It has brought considerable prosperity and a new confidence as to our ability to compete in the global marketplace despite our size and peripherality. And most importantly it has reversed the tide of emigration that had robbed us of our greatest asset, our people, generations of our people. This confidence in our ability to stand on our own two feet and meet whatever challenges present themselves will stand us in good stead now that it seems that the tide of growth has started to ebb.
The extent to which we can judge ourselves to be a success as a society, cannot and should not be measured purely in the context of economic growth and development. A very real test of what type of society we want to pass on to our children lies in the decisions and actions we take now to tackle such problems as poverty, homelessness and crime. It also depends on how fairly, how equitably, opportunities can be accessed and shared among our people. Good quality of life is dependant on many things - access to good education, good employment prospects, good housing, health care and feeling safe and secure. Perhaps every bit as important though, is the extent to which every individual counts, and is made to feel they count, as a valuable member of our community – to put it another way how do I see myself and how does my community see me, judge me? We have learnt a salutary lesson from bitter past experience - the more people feel they are marginalised and excluded, the weaker the centre and the more impoverished our society is as a whole.
The conference today on “Homelessness and Crime” provides us with an opportunity to examine the complex interrelationships of social and economic factors which link these two issues and the need for new approaches, such as those offered by PACE. Some tell us that there is nothing more to dealing with ex-offenders than “they committed the crime, they must pay the price’, but if society also ends up paying part of that price through persistent re-offending and if there are ways of avoiding or reducing recidivism then we as a society have a strong vested interest in creating the conditions which help lessen the driving force to re-offend.
The Irish News of last Monday carried a story from its 1931 edition of the death of an elderly ex-convict by the name of James Brady. He had been in and out of prison since childhood for very petty offences including a stretch of seven years for stealing an empty box. The Recorder at the Old Bailey, confronted with a 72 year old recidivist remarked that Brady was a classic example of a criminal who was manufactured by a crude criminal justice system. The judge helped him to get work and later visited him when he was dying. Brady’s comment was that the Recorder’s treatment of him was “his first foretase of heaven.” It was a very telling comment for there is little doubt that Brady’s life had given him good reason to know what hell was like.
Life can deal very bad hands to some people and one of the worst hands is to be excluded from all the supports we take for granted, to have no home, no address, no entry point to the huge integrated network that comes as part of the package of having a home, and that is taken for granted by everyone except those who do not have it. To be an ex-prisoner brings its own difficulties. To be a homeless ex-prisoner brings catastrophe and many ex-prisoners are at particular risk of homelessness.
Thankfully the Government’s Strategy on homelessness recognises the need for a comprehensive approach in helping people reintegrate into society through the provision of proper supports. In partnership with the Probation and Welfare Service, FÁS and the VEC, PACE has played a vital role in the rehabilitation of ex-offenders ensuring access to training, education, employment and housing needs. This integrated approach is essential, it promotes inclusiveness, offers real help, real alternatives to past experience and most importantly encouragement. It ensures that there is an effective, accessible support network, responsive to the needs of the ex-offender.
Society at large remains deeply uncomfortable with ex-prisoners and that discomfort manifests itself in difficulties getting jobs, getting a place to live, in other words in accessing the very things upon which a decent and fulfilling life depends - the very basic building blocks of a life beyond mere existence. PACE, through the years, has provided invaluable support for people who come up to barriers in the way of their reintegration into society. Priorswood House, PACE’s longest running project, provides temporary accommodation for homeless men recently released from prison and represents a major departure from the traditional approach of providing exclusively hostel accommodation.
This insightful approach by PACE provides the only such service of its kind in Ireland, offering a safe experience of independent living for these men as part of that reintegration process into the wider community. I am impressed to hear that, such was the success of this project, plans are well underway for a Women’s Resettlement Project. PACE offers a lifeline when, where and to whom it is needed most. Pace sees the individual and responds to their needs when so many offer only derision, fear or probably worse still, indifference. I’m reminded of the words of George Bernard Shaw who said that “the worst sin towards our fellow creatures is not to hate them, but to be indifferent to them: that’s the essence of inhumanity.”
The success of PACE’s work is also an important witness inside our society challenging those old fears and prejudices, offering reassurance to those who are sceptical or unsure of the ex-prisoners place in society.
I visited Wheatfield Prison in May this year and afterwards went to the North Clondalkin Probation Project. I found it heartening to see the determination of many young offenders to break the cycle of re-offending by becoming involved in the many re-training programmes offered both inside the prison, and after release. Great credit is due to PACE, to the staff of the Prison and of the Probation Services, the Departments of Justice, Equality and Law Reform and Education, and other state agencies for providing this important outlet.
The role of PACE is a unique and self-determined one. You experience and deal with the problems of loneliness, isolation and exclusion on a daily basis and you know well the vicious circle that so often links homelessness and crime. I commend the hard work, commitment and determination you put into breaking this vicious circle. Your dedication and decency are the fuel which help us to imagine and create a more caring and inclusive world – with space for everyone.
Go maire sibh. Go raibh maith agaibh go léir.