Joe Behan - Independent Councillor - Wicklow County Council
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Homeless Deaths in Co. Wicklow
Archive Statements > 2014
Homeless Deaths in County Wicklow – Ignored by Government
December 2014
We have all been deeply saddened by the news of yet another tragic death of a homeless man in Dublin last week. This Government was shamed into calling an emergency forum on homelessness today but in doing so, it is either demonstrating complete incompetence in not already knowing there was a serious problem of homelessness or that it is only going through the motions of pretending to act rather than solving the problem. Either way it is a shabby and shameful response to a growing crisis.
Adding insult to injury the Government also decided to exclude the people who are homeless in County Wicklow. The emergency forum was called only to discuss the problem of homelessness in Dublin but in reality, most people are deeply aware that the problem of homelessness is growing rapidly outside Dublin also and is now affecting many individuals and families in County Wicklow. In fact, there have been a number of tragic deaths of homeless people in Bray over the past two years and yet the Government decided to exclude County Wicklow’s homeless from its discussions.
This callous and dismissive response to homeless people in County Wicklow is a disgrace and begs the question where are our Government TD’s? Why did the local Minister allow the people of County Wicklow to be excluded from this emergency forum? What actions have the other TD’s taken to ensure that the housing crisis in County Wicklow is taken seriously by Government? When are we going to see real progress in tackling this and other crippling problems in our county?
People will also recall that only last week a majority of Councillors from the two big parties voted to hand back more than €1,500,000 to the Wicklow County Manager to reduce a council deficit rather than spend the money on many worthwhile community projects across the county which could have been used in part to help ease our housing crisis. This decision to act in accordance with the County Manager’s wishes has regrettably resulted in another lost opportunity for homeless people in County Wicklow.
Joe Behan
Independent