Homeless issue a rough learning curve for Taoiseach

The Homeless.

We don’t hear much about them, as a rule, during Leaders’ Questions.

Mary Lou McDonald, fresh from her starring role in the aisles of Superquinn in Monday’s television documentary on Sinn Féin, decided to raise the issue of people sleeping rough in Dublin.

New figures show the number of people sleeping rough has increased by 200 per cent in the last year.

”So Taoiseach, when are you going to take this homeless crisis seriously, and when do you propose to release the funds to ensure that no family is forced to sleep rough, or . . . forced to live in emergency accommodation?”

Enda's reply was a classic which might have been lifted straight from the Bertie Ahern play book of Dáil answers to difficult questions.

It went on at convoluted length. He sympathised fully with people who find themselves homeless, what with the weather getting colder and it’s terrible altogether for them and something has to be done but, God help them, there are even some who don’t want to be helped despite everyone’s best efforts.

Statistical flourish
Then he threw in a lavish dusting of statistics and proposed ministerial initiatives, which he appeared to find fascinating.

But the crowning glory of his response was to put himself at the centre of it from the outset.

”I spoke to somebody on the street the other night who was from a county not from Dublin who had had a row with his spouse and was on the streets and will be on them, according to himself, for a couple of weeks,” he began, before launching into his list of figures from “the rough sleep count”.

His Government’s homeless policy statement outlines their intention to end long-term homelessness by 2016. “I’m interested to see, first of all, verification of what the real numbers here are and secondly, how fast we can impact on this.”

Then he told how he “asked a homeless person the other evening what they do with all the gear they are carrying” and was told it is left in a spot during the day while he goes about his business.

There are many, complex, reasons why people are living on the streets, added Enda.

”That’s a difficult situation. I remember when I was elected here first, way back in the 1970s, there used to be a good lady across the road here, and despite all the efforts that were made she did not want to go into permanent accommodation.”

Life is a slow learning curve for all of us, even taoisigh.

Mary Lou wasn’t moved by his personal testimony.

“You’re speaking out of both sides of your mouth. It seems to me you’re trying to strike a sympathetic note without committing yourself to really doing anything to change the situation.”

The issue is not just about rough sleepers – “the sharpest end of the homeless crisis” she said. What about the families left in B&B accommodation, or in a hotel room, some of them for years?”

Complex issues
Yes, there are complex issues involved, but there was also the simple matter of huge cuts from the social housing budget.

“Tea and sympathy will not cut it,” was Mary Lou’s cutting assessment. “Yarns about meeting individuals on the streets, as enlightening as it clearly was for you, will not cut it. When will you invest? When will you release the funds to the local authorities?”

Enda was highly affronted.

“I give you credit for holding a continuous masters degree for speaking out of the side of your own mouth” he huffed. “Now, I don’t come in here to tell you yarns about people I meet on the street and if you think that’s a kind of smart alec reply, then you’re very much mistaken.”

She was wrong to say he doesn’t understand what’s happening on the streets. “Name me a predecessor of my own in this position who took time to go down the streets and talk to these people, who took time to try to understand what has them on the streets.”

We can readily imagine good-hearted Enda talking to the homeless he encounters on his nocturnal rambles around the sleeping city. It’s a bit more difficult to imagine how it must feel for those who see the Taoiseach stooping down for a chat.

As for his predecessors doing the same, we immediately thought of Bertie who was always meeting people on the streets then telling the Dáil about what they said to him, on all sorts of topics.

Although, when it comes to homelessness, the Bert’s credentials trump those of the Taoiseach. He’s been there.

We all know it from the Mahon tribunal: no residence to call his own, miserable for months in a freezing garret in St. Luke’s and in such dire straits he had to rely on dig-outs . His situation proved very complex. Perhaps Enda should give him a call.