Focus Ireland is warning that one family becomes homeless every eight hours in Ireland.
The homeless charity has teamed up with Iarnród Éireann for a major new fundraising campaign in the run-up to Christmas.
The #HomeForChristmas campaign will offer thousands of passengers the chance to donate to Focus Ireland while purchasing tickets online.
The train service is also providing Focus Ireland with free advertising at stations around the country, with Christmas choirs on hand at selected stations to further the fundraising push over the coming weeks.
@focusireland teams up with @irishrail to help more people make it #Homeforchristmas Listen to the great @Coruschoir kindly launching 2nd year of our partnership @heuston today. Please support #GivingTuesday pic.twitter.com/pExvl1oO79
— Focus Ireland (@FocusIreland) November 27, 2018
Focus Ireland spokesperson Roughan Mac Namara said the funds will be used to offer a measure of hope to families facing homelessness ahead of the holidays.
“The funds raised by this will help support our work with families in particular,” he said.
“One family becomes homeless every eight hours in Ireland.
“This is such a key time for us and people can rest assured that 89c of every Euro is spent directly on services to combat and prevent homelessness.”
.@FocusIreland has teamed up with @IrishRail to launch their new campaign to help people make it #HomeForChristmas with the help of the CORus choir 🎄🎅🻠pic.twitter.com/91OFJuYYXR
— Kim Buckley (@KiiimBuckley) November 27, 2018
The new campaign was launched as Government figures show there is now a record total of 9,698 people homeless in Ireland.
Some 3,829 of those are children – a figure that Focus Ireland is warning marks a rise of 23% since the same time last year.
The overall figures do not include the people that were 're-categorised' out of official count at the direction of the Housing Minister Eoghan Murphy this year.
Iarnród Éireann spokesperson Barry Kenny said the campaign highlights the fact that as thousands of people use the train service to commute home every day, there are nearly 10,000 who will not have a home to go to this Christmas.
He encouraged passengers to be “as generous as they can be” noting that “every little bit helps.”
“Focus Ireland manages to secure a home for one family every day but sadly that same day two to three more families – and other individuals - become homeless,” he said.
“Iarnród Éireann is proud to be supporting Focus Ireland’s work and we hope this campaign will help the charity’s work to support more families to make the journey home.”
The campaign marks the second year that Iarnród Éireann has partnered with Focus Ireland.
You can donate to the campaign by visiting focusireland.ie/donate
