Madam, - Fr David Keating (Rite and Reason, August 22nd), stated that society today "is not making a home for the distressed", a point we have consistently made in different ways to explain why people end up homeless on our streets. The fact that he was writing about the reasons why more and more young people are committing suicide, the ultimate step in opting out, underlines how cold and unwelcoming Irish society has become towards anyone who is vulnerable and unable to compete in our increasingly materialistic and success at all costs-driven culture.
There is a growing number of outsiders in our midst of whom young suicide victims and people who are homeless on our streets are the most obvious.
However, they are invisible to many because as Fr Keating rightly puts it, "we are living with a collective deception that all is well when truly it is not."
This attitude also pervades much of our health, social and homeless services, who are forced to operate under a management philosophy based on performance indicators and benchmarks using quantitative measures that only serve to create more outsiders instead of helping to heal people and welcome them back into society.
To create a society where the outsider will feel welcome we must place a significant priority on human contact, the value of caring for each other and building a real sense of community where everyone feels included.
This must translate into a real philosophy of caring in the health, social and homeless services as well as in the community at large or the casualties will continue to mount. - Yours, etc,
ALICE LEAHY, Director and Co-Founder, Trust, Bride Road, Dublin.