“In this book we show that people who are different enrich us all, with some of them becoming incredibly successful. In other words, as a society, when we value the outsider we all benefit.”
Alice Leahy

PAT KENNY LAUNCHES ‘WITH TRUST IN PLACE – Writing from the outside’ Edited & Compiled by ALICE LEAHY.

RTE’s PAT KENNY launched With Trust in Place: Writing from the Outside, at a special function in Dublin’s City Hall attended by over four hundred guests including Dublin City Manager John Fitzgerald and most of the contributors to the book – as well as a wide cross section of people representing all strands of Irish life on Tuesday, 14th October 2003. Dublin City Council made the venue available free of charge and a friend of TRUST sponsored the reception.

With Trust in Place: Writing from the Outside a unique and compelling collection of writing on the theme of ‘the outsider’, edited by Trust Director and Co-founder, Alice Leahy, published by Townhouse and including contributions by Maeve Binchy, Christy Moore, Con Houlihan, Gene Kerrigan, Justice Michael Moriarty, Anita Reeves and many more was launched by Pat Kenny in Dublin’s City Hall this evening (Tuesday, Oct. 14th 2003).

Alice Leahy has brought together a remarkable and hugely diverse range of contributions, from a number of well-known and not so well known figures in Irish society, including one man, a poet, who is homeless. Alice and her colleagues at Trust work hands on in the front line, providing human contact and health care to those who have become homeless, the most marginalised in Irish society. Alice considers that hands on approach to be Trust’s greatest strength, believing that “it gives us the motivation to continue to challenge the bureaucracy that is stifling the initiative of others in front line care who try the put people first.”

As Alice says, “My work over the years on the margins of Irish society would not have been possible without the support of people in many walks of life. This is highlighted by the diversity of people who generously gave of their time to produce some thought provoking and in some cases provocative pieces for this book – a book we hope may help us to be a little more understanding of those who are different.”

Contributors include: Maeve Binchy, Christy Moore, Con Houlihan, Justice Michael Moriarty, Anita Reeves, Gene Kerrigan, Gerard Byrne (perhaps best known as Malachy from Fair City), Bishop Willie Walsh, Prof. David MacConnell, Rev. Gordon Linney, Seamus Dooley, Nora Owen, Senator Mary O’Rourke and Padraig O’Morain.

Alice Leahy is a nurse, writer, commentator and broadcaster, who has consistently pursued the theme of the outsider to help create greater understanding of the need to recognise, understand and celebrate those who are different. With Trust in Place: Writing from the Outside is her second book. Her first, Not Just a Bed for the Night, co-written with Anne Dempsey, was published in 1995.

With Trust in Place: Writing from the Outside is now on sale at €12-99 in all book shops and royalties from the sale of the book go to TRUST.