It is likely that at any one time there are approximately 250 people sleeping rough on the streets of Dublin, according to the Minister of State for Housing and Urban Renewal, Mr Robert Molloy.
And what was undeniable, he added "is that alcoholism or drug abuse has featured, or continues to feature, in the lives of many who sleep rough. We cannot ignore the plight of these people, especially at this time when our economy is growing so strongly."
Mr Molloy was speaking in Dublin yesterday at the launch of "Under Dublin's Neon", a CentreCare report funded by the Homeless Initiative, on the needs of homeless street drinkers in the capital. Centrecare is an agency of the Catholic Archdiocese of Dublin.
The report recommends the provision of "wet" and "dry" hostels, a settlement service, transitional housing, an increase in the number of places at residential detoxification and therapeutic centres, the provision of outreach workers, and further research.
Mr Molloy said at the launch that "funding will not be a problem in the accommodation area" for such homeless people, but that homelessness was a multi-faceted problem.
"We must focus our response on assisting homeless persons out of long-term occupancy of hostel accommodation back into independent living in the community, if at all possible, or into long-term sheltered housing accommodation that will meet their needs," he said. This must be complemented by a range of dedicated services.
"In a matter of weeks" he expected a report from the Government's Cross-Department Team on Homelessness. He expected it to come up with an overall strategy.
Mr Molloy also said he believed the burden of dealing with homelessness should not fall on the city centre area as it does, predominantly, at the moment. "I would like to see the three county councils in the Dublin area becoming more actively engaged in providing services in their areas, nearer to where some homeless people may have connections," he said.
Referring to the National Assessment of Homeless People, carried out by local authorities last March, he noted it had found that between March 1996 and March 1999 the number of homeless in the State increased from 2,501 to 5,234. There had been a particularly marked increase in Dublin city, from 1,447 to 3,640.
"This new report estimates that about 275 persons sleep rough in the Eastern Health Board region," he said.
