This article is from page 1 of the 2008-03-04 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 1 JPG
WITH 556 people seeking the help of Clare County Council’s Homeless Unit last year both the council and the local health service have been accused of turning their backs on the homeless and making it difficult for them to get accommodation.
A recently established voluntary eroup, Homeless Education Learn- ing Project (HELP), has already helped find accommodation for five homeless men.
However, they say their task is be- ing made difficult because of all the bureaucracy they have to deal with.
HELP was set up last month by lo-
cal women Josephine O’Brien and Ann Quinn and two others to provide support to the homeless in Ennis. To date the service has helped at least three Polish men and two members of the Travelling community find ac- commodation.
“We are trying to take them off the street if we have the money. Some- times this means paying for B&B. We are out all day chatting and listening to them and they are very angry with the system,” said Ms O”’ Brien.
“We have been trailing around the town from the county council to the health board since before Christmas and still getting the same answer. We know of at least seven people who
are sleeping rough in Ennis but we are sure there are lots more.
“The county council and HSE need to step up and do something. The community welfare workers at the council and the health board are all in the same circle and are all hop- ping from one venue to the next and we are getting nowhere,’ Ms O’Brien re HLGe
‘There is one particular squat where some of the homeless stay and it is in a desperate state. It is all boarded up and it is just an awful place to visit never mind sleep there. There could be four or five at a time in there.