Galway Advertiser 2007/2007_08_09/GA_0908_E1_031.pdf 

Extracted text

August 9 2007

www.galwayadvertiser.ie

N E W S 31

Long-term homelessness a major problem in Galway, says COPE
BY MARY O'CONNOR Housing long term homeless people is a major problem in Galway, according to the local charity COPE which provides emergency accommodation and support services to people in crisis housing situations. Its annual report, just published, says people seeking emergency accommodation are sometimes deprived of essential bed space due to it having to meet the needs of longterm homeless people. COPE says this is largely due to the absence of suitable "move-on housing". In 2006, the charity's Fairgreen Hostel for homeless men - which accommodates 29 men nightly accommodated 23 men for more than six months. COPE's Osterley Lodge hostel for homeless women also accommodated a number of women for extended periods of time. The report says while this trend is consistent with past years, it is very "frustrating" that despite significant efforts in the city to address homelessness, there is still a reliance on emergency accommodation hostels to provide for the needs of people for extended periods of time. "Although it is a stated aim of public policy to eliminate longer term homelessness it is not being achieved," says Martin O'Connor, assistant director of COPE. "The fact is, that despite an increasing number of supported housing spaces being available in the city, there continues to be a reliance on emergency accommodation services to provide for people who are entrenched in homelessness and who have higher and longer term support needs. refuge being full when they sought assistance. `A noticeable trend experienced in 2006 was where, in a small number of cases, women stayed for extended periods of time in the refuge due to difficulties in accessing move-on housing." Waterside's outreach and aftercare service, which offers support, information, accompaniment and a space to explore options to women who do not need to access the refuge, worked with a total of 103 women. COPE also provides senior support services in Galway. In January, its Meals on Wheels service won the Ulster Bank Volunteers of the Year Award 2006. In May, after 25 years of being based at Francis Street, Meals on Wheels moved to a new facility in Ballybane and in November, was rebranded as Community Catering. "This development in our Senior Support Services is a major positive development in services for older people in Galway and shows our commitment to providing quality nutritional support for older people in our community " says Mr O'Connor. COPE's Sonas Day Centre in Mervue continued to be an essential service for older people in Walter Macken Place and surrounding community in Mervue, during 2006. In 2006 COPE organised, and was involved in, a number of high profile fundraising events. Among them was the Making Galway Proud Initiative run by James Harris. "We would like to extend our most sincere thanks to all the people who volunteered, donated, supported, raised funds or took a real interest in our commitment of making our society a just and inclusive one where all our citizens have the opportunity to reach their potential."

Pictured on Eyre Square on Tuesday to announce the publication of the COPE annual report were Aonghus Sammin and Martin O'Connor from COPE and James Harris from Making Galway Proud. Photo by Reg Gordon

"The severe shortage of affordable and good quality housing in the city for single people who are economically disadvantaged is further adding to the situation where people are spending longer periods of time in emergency accommodation. As a consequence, there are very often no emergency beds readily available to meet the needs of people presenting for emergency accommodation on a nightly basis." Last year COPE's homeless services worked with 1,010 people, 66

per cent of whom were single men, 17 per cent were single women, and another 17 per cent were families. While a number of people presented to more than one COPE service, the overall figure of 1,010 represents the net number of people supported by the charity's homeless services, the report outlines. "COPE's Fairgreen Hostel accommodated 232 men in 2006 while 110 women were accommodated at COPE's Osterley Lodge for homeless women. COPE's Family Support

Services worked with a total of 172 families and COPE's Homeless Referral and Out of Hours Service worked with 755 households (men, women and women with children), placing the majority of them in tourist accommodation and referring others to COPE's emergency hostels." In 2006, COPE's Waterside House Refuge for women and children experiencing domestic violence had 149 admissions for women. A further 145 women were referred to other refuges across the country due to the

Unscrupulous directory scams to come under scrutiny says Chamber
Galway Chamber Euro Info Centre has learnt that the European Parliament has agreed to produce its own report into the impact of the dubious business practices employed by some directory publishers on European citizens and businesses. This follows years of concerted efforts by the Euro Info Centre to have the issue of unscrupulous activities by directories such as European City Guide dealt with European level. The initiative for this report is being led by MEP Mairead McGuinness who has repeatedly raised the issue with the European Commission which has so far appeared unwilling to take any meaningful action. The report is now being produced to pressurise the commission into initiating the type of legislative change that would outlaw the types of business practices that ECG has engaged in. The ECG directory has been the cause of significant financial and emotional distress to businesses and citizens throughout Ireland/Galway. The problem with this directory centres on the use of a misleading form which asks receivers to `update their data for free' for inclusion in the ECG directory, however the small type at the bottom of the document includes a contract for insertion of the data in the directory for a three year period at a cost of 817 per year. While the contract is legal in so far as the conditions are mentioned, the wording used and the layout of the form are very misleading, according to Galway Chamber Euro Info Centre. As part of her report, Mairead McGuinness would like to hear the views and experiences of those affected by this particular directory. If you have been targeted by the European City Guide contact Carol Brady at Galway Chamber Euro Info Centre by email at carol@galwaychamber.com or telephone (091) 563536 to report your experience.

Pictured at the first day of rehearsals for Druid Theatre Company's new production of Eugene O'Neill's Long Day's Journey into Night were Michael Esper, Maude Fahy, Aidan Kelly, James Cromwell, and Marie Mullen. Photograph by Aengus McMahon