It’s a sad indictment of successive governments, stretching back into the late 1980s, that this country, which possesses so much material wealth, cannot claim to have adequate housing for all who live here.
While an argument may be made about the upsurge in Ireland’s population - an increase of 183,000 from 2022 to 2023 according to AMECO, the annual macroeconomic database of the European Commission's Directorate General for Economic and Financial Affairs – Ireland’s current homeless figures have been decades in the making.
So to anyone seeking to blame those new to these shores for a problem which took root in the late 80s, here’s a thought: step away from the comments section. Why not catch up on some reading prepared by people who have taken the time to offer a considered, non-hyperbolic perspective in attempting to adequately paint the picture.
One such verified scene setter is social scientist Dr Tony Fahey, a former researcher and author with the Economic Social Research Institute (ESRI) and UCD emeritus professor in social policy
Speaking to Helen Shaw on the ‘This Is Where We Live’ podcast
(www.thisiswherewelive.ie/episodes/tonyfahey), Dr Fahey contextualised what has contributed to a social crisis which, as of August, saw 14,486 people (Focus Ireland) registered as homeless in this State.
“In the recession, clearly there was a pullback from investment in housing development, switched off from the private sector and the workforce left, etc. But actually we stopped building public housing from a real output point of view from the early 90s that actually the boom was the switch point,” he said.
“And that what often people will frame this as is that neo-Liberal argument that the market will provide started to dominate, and that the philosophy from the state became whether in selling off entities that which had already happened and was continuing, but that in housing it began to be seen much more fundamentally as a market transactional force within policy. And I'm curious about that, because in a sense, in what you're unpacking, you're looking at a longer trend in housing and social policy and where you would see the changes in direction which happened particularly from, say, the early 90s.”
Dr Fahey added: “It was really driven most of all by the fiscal crisis of 1987/88, when the huge overspend in government had taken place, national debt was racking up. Ray McSharry came in with the Fianna Fáil government and said, we have to we have to rebalance the public finances. And so this is the period of the cuts of the late 1980s. One of the areas they cut was the public capital programme and that actually axed a lot of the social housing programme.
"Now, in a way, this there's been ups and downs in the social housing programme since then, but really it has never recovered to the level that it had in the 1970s and 1980s. And so it is true that social housing has since then has played a smaller role in the total system than it did in the 50 years leading up to that.”
If political decisions created this problem, then political goodwill can, one can only hope, untangle this massive knot. In 2023, 12,000 new social homes were delivered, a 16 per cent increase on the previous year and according to Housing Minister Darragh O’Brien, “the best year of delivery since the mid-1970s. The Minister also reported that over 4,000 affordable homes were delivered last year.”
Steps in the right direction? Absolutely – but consider the Central Bank’s recent declaration that 52,000 homes will need to be built per year in Ireland for the next 25 years.
Added to that, the CB’s analysis suggested that 70,000 builds every year over 10 years could help to compensate for decades of Government-influenced malaise. So make no mistake, the crisis is unlikely to be resolved – or anything approximate to a resolution – within the lifetime of the next government.
Nobody should be doing what I and thousands more like me will be doing this evening: taking to a sleeping bag outdoors for one night to support the work of Focus Ireland and those they provide assistance to. But compared to the angst faced by over 10,000 adults and 4,000 children currently, one night of minor discomfort is hardly too great a sacrifice.
Nonetheless, it’s a well-intended gesture and something I’ve been more than happy to do for the past 10 years.
Almost €1.3 million was raised last year thanks to the public’s generous support of the many individuals and groups who took past in the Sleep-Out. These monies have funded the serving of meals, the provision of information and advice to people facing or experiencing homelessness, the delivery of child support services and access to Focus Ireland’s PETE (Preparation for Education, Training & Employment) education service. These donations matter. These donations are making a difference.
None of us should have to 'Shine A Light' like this. But as homeless numbers continue to rise in Ireland, we have no option other than to keep shining this light. Whatever contribution you can give will, as it has been in previously years, be enormously appreciated.
To support my #ShineALight Sleep-Out, please visit: https://joinus.focusireland.ie/fundraisers/dermotkeyes/shine-a-light-community
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