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HAS HOMELESSNESS BECOME acceptable? The CEO of Merchants Quay Ireland, Tony Geoghegan, says that it seems to have become that way.
He said, if you talk to anybody they will say it’s unacceptable that there’s people sleeping on the street however, he added that “last night, tonight and tomorrow night there will be people sleeping rough”.
The homeless and drugs service provider revealed that up to 150 people are sleeping rough on the streets of Dublin every night.
Geoghegan was speaking on Morning Ireland after Merchants Quay released its annual review. He said “We must have the wherewithal to do something about this in the here and now.”
We know that people actually die on the street. There’s a very strong correlation between homelessness and ill health.
“Drug users don’t go to A&E and don’t attend their GP. They are a very disadvantaged group.”
Accommodation
Geoghegan said that, “While there is much talk of the improving economic situation, these improvements haven’t filtered down to those most in need. In fact the economic recovery has placed increased pressure on the over-priced rental market and is keeping more people in homelessness.
“The private rented market has traditionally been the main exit route out of homelessness. However, we’ve seen recently the rise in rents right across the city, the crisis with student accommodation and many landlords won’t accept rent allowance.
The gap between rent allowance and the actual cost of rent is too big and its trapping more and more people into homelessness.
Drugs Issue
Merchant Quay’s Ireland needle exchange service in Dublin recorded over 25,000 client visits last year, an increase of 16% from 2012.
In total over 3,260 individuals accessed the needle exchange programme during 2013, of which 614 were new service users, an increase of 10%.
Despite this increase in the use of services, Geoghegan said that, “Drugs have dropped right down in the political agenda.
We used to have a super junior minister who sat at the cabinet and had responsibility for drugs but that slipped down the agenda to a junior minister then back into primary care now it’s just part of Minister Varadkar’s whole portfolio and with the greatest respect to Minister Varadkar I’m sure he’s going to be very focused on the hospitals and the bigger areas.
“That’s indicative of where drugs lies in political priorities.”
The CEO added that, “The proven evidence around drug use shows that if you provide treatment people will exit from drug use.
“There must be sites made available that can provide a safe and secure place for people so we can start to provide the pathways out
“It’s not rocket science, all it needs is some more political will.”
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Why would we give two hoots?
@Wishywashy: The government is attempting to undermine the cause of the protests by linking them to outside agitators. It’s not true of course.
The Serb government eased the lockdown before the June 21st election in order to get a big turn out and win votes, after the votes were counted they re-imposed the knockdown after announcing a spike in COVID-19 cases. The protestors upset at this, are a mix of people upset at the bent election and conspiracy minded who think COVID dies not exist or was exaggerated as a political tool to stifle descent.
The reason why we should care is that there is now a rapidly worsening outbreak of COVID in Serbia, the government capitulated to the protestors demands, ended the lockdown a 2nd time, so Serbia is now faced with a worsening mishandled outbreak they cannot control. That outbreak could force border closures and cause problems/outbreaks elsewhere in Europe.
Mr Bald of the Bald and Bankrupt YouTube channel caught Coronavirus in Serbia and was in hospital for a month and the ICU for a week.
Here’s his video: https://youtu.be/clscC120ZQM
He didn’t realise how ill he was and was taken to hospital in taxi by a concerned friend. They found his oxygen levels were in “the low 70s”. He recons the low oxygen levels affected his judgment and that’s why he didn’t realise he was dying.
Also, Serbia was caught covering up the severity of the outbreak.
There was an election on June 21, some protestors were upset about the bent election, think the corrupt government eased the lockdown in order to win votes. There’s now a second wave of infections, that’s why the lockdown was re-imposed, or maybe the first never ended, or maybe it’s to stifle protests. One of the leaders of the protest was a 5G conspiracy theorist, but there’s various reasons why people were protesting.
@David Jordan: he is brilliant to watch !! Especially his south American travels
@Maalouf: you might want to do a bit of background research on him, you will think twice about watching his videos.
@David Jordan: oh a communist sympathizer who worked for MI5 probably still does by the look of his videos. Reserch who you watch
@Tiktok: Sources please. Have been following him for a good while and this is the first I’ve heard of that
@Alex Nevin: Used enjoys his videos until I found out he’s a d!rty little git
@Hup Abù: eh hem..I quite enjoyed his videos until I learned he’s a d!try little git
@Alex Nevin: he used to post under a pseudonym in a sex tourist forum and people have corroborated events he mentions in the pseudonym account with facts known about his life (where he has been, an unfounded rape accusation, ex wife from Belarus, tips for learning Russian). He posted despicable stories and totally denigrated all of the people he pretends to be friends with. https://www.reddit.com/r/BaldAndBaldrDossier/comments/cz1sz4/the_x_files_of_bald_bankrupt_a_brief_summary_and/?utm_source=amp&utm_medium=&utm_content=post_body
@David Jordan: and that is hilarious because he was a denier until he got it
Sure or government used the pandemic to form a government nobody voted for!
@Aaron Jones: you got precisely what you voted for. No overall control….
@ℝ: yeah I never voted for mehole or Leotard!
@Aaron Jones: 76% didn’t vote for Mary Who either but sure that’s democracy for ye.
@GrumpyAulFella: I never voted for Mary Lou!
@GrumpyAulFella: Why can’t people understand how our voting system works!? What you mean to say is 76% didn’t give SF their no1 vote.
Probably the ringleader and a spy.
@:
They should protest at the Chinese embassy
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