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New campaign highlights plight of homeless children in Ireland

Homelessness support groups have launched a new campaign to highlight the number of children in I...
Newstalk
Newstalk

15.29 28 Aug 2017


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New campaign highlights plight...

New campaign highlights plight of homeless children in Ireland

Newstalk
Newstalk

15.29 28 Aug 2017


Share this article


Homelessness support groups have launched a new campaign to highlight the number of children in Ireland with no home to call their own.

The #mynameis campaign has been launched on Ireland’s National Day against Child Homelessness to highlight figures showing 3,000 children are now living in emergency accomodation.

The campaign is run by Inner City Helping Homeless (ICHH) and has seen posters erected around the capital showing that the people affected by the crisis are not statistics - but children and families.

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ICHH chief executive Anthony Flynn said the campaign aims to change the perception of homelessness by putting the plight of children and families front and centre.

Speaking at the launch of the campaign this morning, David Hall the director of the Irish Mortgage Holders Association said it aims to put names and faces to the people directly affected by the homelessness crisis.

He said he hopes the campaign can put pressure on the government to “execute emergency powers and get this problem resolved.”

“It has now come to a crisis point and it is worsening month by month,” he said.

“The money is there, the builders are there and the government has the power - if it takes the power.

“At the moment all of the CEOs of local authorities are running the show.

“The Minister for Housing is the man that we invest in running the show and he needs to have the powers and the responsibility to do that.”

Housing expert Dr Rory Hearn from NUI Maynooth said the number of homeless children in Ireland increased by 300% between June 2014 and 2017.

Based on that level of increase he said Ireland could be faced with 6,000 homeless children by 2020.

He said an urgent intervention is needed to address the problem.


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