Sir, – Focus Ireland very much welcomes your coverage of our work highlighting the problems facing the over 1,500 children who are homeless with their families in Dublin, in particular our recent report, which indicates that over 80 per cent of the children are under 12, so that their experience of homelessness occurs during the most impressionable and critical time of their lives ("Most city homeless families from two areas", February 17th).
It may not be clear that the Focus Ireland’s report linked the number of families homeless to specific postal areas in Dublin. The linking of these postal areas specifically to the constituencies of TDs was beyond the remit of our report and was an additional analysis carried out by your newspaper.
The critical message for us is that any party seeking to participate in government must have a clear, deliverable plan about how this problem will be tackled.
Despite the actions taken by the outgoing government, the number of families becoming homeless doubled each year for the last three years and continues to grow at an alarming rate.
There has been little in the election debate so far which gives us confidence that the political parties have yet grasped the scale of the problem or the urgency required in addressing it. – Yours, etc,
MIKE ALLEN,
Director of Advocacy,
Focus Ireland,
High Street,
Dublin 8.