Category: Press Releases

Alice Leahy Director of TRUST
speaking at HOMELESS & ADDICTION Conference today

Urging nurses to speak out on behalf of their patients, Alice Leahy, Director & Co-Founder of TRUST and a nurse herself said: “Nurses must change the way we see ourselves. We must speak out and become effective defenders of our patients and those we are responsible for or nothing will change.”

Alice Leahy went on: “Nurses have a very direct caring role for patients in our health service. We know what is going on. We have the power as nurses to help people realise why action must be taken and taken now. This is essential if we are to change the way society perceives our profession.”

Alice Leahy was addressing a conference on Homelessness & Addiction organised by the Nursing Addiction Network, which was set up to help nurses become more effective in looking after those who suffer addiction.

Alice Leahy went on: “I have spoken out many times about the crisis of homelessness in Ireland. It is remarkable that as we come to the end of a period of unprecedented prosperity we still have a bigger crisis than we did before what some people regard as the “good times” began. This underlines how important it is that we are fully informed of the wider social issues and be confident to fully participate at all levels in the health service.”

“There is no point urging people to speak out if they are not supported. We need a see change in the way we see the nursing profession. We must see the nurse as the natural champion of his or her patient. This will not only alter the way society looks at the profession but it will ultimately result in the kind of fundamental change that is essential or we will never get the health service the Irish people want and deserve. We should not allow ourselves to be silenced by fear and bureaucracy.”

TRUST

TRUST is a non-political, non-denominational body which was established to provide health and related services to people who are homeless. Alice Leahy, Director and Co-Founder of TRUST and has spent all of her working life in the nursing profession in both the formal health service and various voluntary bodies.

Alice Leahy speaks about the Nursing Profession from a position of considerable practical working experience, not only on a day to day basis in TRUST, but also in her previous career. A former Ward Sister and Night Sister, Alice set up the first Intensive Care Unit of its kind in Ireland at the Royal City of Dublin Hospital. She wrote the first report in Ireland based on hands on work on the medical needs of the homeless which has proved to be an influential document. Her contribution to Nursing was recently acknowledged by the Faculty of Nursing & Midwifery at the Royal College of Surgeon of Ireland when she received an Honorary Fellowship.

Call for members of religious communities to not only speak out in defence of the poor but also to be with them in the way that made Catherine McAuley such a compellingly powerful advocate for social justice.

Alice Leahy, called on the members of religious communities to not only speak out in defence of the poor and those who take a stand on their behalf but also to be with them in the way that made Catherine McAuley such a compellingly powerful advocate for social justice in her time.

Delivering the Catherine McAuley Lecture tonight (Wednesday, 17 October, 2001) Alice Leahy, Co-Founder and Director of TRUST, said that Catherine McAuley knew first hand the smell and pain of poverty and not only provided frontline care and help but also took a stand for the poor.

“Catherine McAuley was a courageous advocate for social justice. She defended those who had no one to stand up for them. Her work made her an outsider and she knew the importance of standing up for those who took a stand and was resolute in standing by her own Sisters, even challenging Bishops and leading Church people when necessary.”

The Annual Catherine McAuley Lecture was established to honour the founder of the worldwide Mercy Order and previous guest lecturers have included President Mary McAleese and the Poet Brendan Kennelly.

“Catherine McAuley was an inspiring woman who asked awkward questions and was a true advocate on behalf of the poor,” Alice Leahy said, “and now more than ever it is important that voices are raised, especially as conditions for those people who become homeless are getting more impossible everyday.”

Alice Leahy went on: “It is not acceptable that at a time of great prosperity in this country that the stench and smell of poverty, which would have been quite familiar to Catherine McAuley in the darkest days of the Nineteenth Century, in the overflowing work houses of the time, is still a prevalent feature of life for the outsiders in Irish society today!”

” The people we always understood as homeless, the really marginalized or outsiders in our midst, have not gone away. But many of the beds traditionally used by homeless people in hostels are now being taken up by those employed in poorly paid jobs unable to get private rented accommodation and ineligible for local authority housing.” Alice Leahy said.

But how have those with responsibility for managing the social and health services responded to this crisis? Buzzwords like “performance indicators,” “benchmarking” and “partnership”. While on the ground those working at the coal face, who daily see first hand the effects of real marginalisation, are rarely if ever consulted and if they are their views are simply not heard. Yet more and more highly paid consultants are hired to produce more and more research reports and nothing changes on the ground, Alice Leahy said, as more and more frontline staff become demoralised.

“We meet people everyday whose bodies have been ravaged by disease, stabbed, burned by cigarettes. Many have pressure sores from sleeping out in all weathers, sometime sleeping in urine soaked clothes for weeks. Major skin problems are not uncommon like leg ulcers as well as lice, scabies and even malnutrition.

“All the medical conditions common to the general public but exacerbated by poor living conditions we see on a daily basis. These conditions are also often compounded by feelings of despair and inadequacy and many, perhaps unsurprisingly, are taken over by addiction to society’s drugs, including alcohol and gambling.”

“These are conditions that Catherine McAuley would have been quite familiar with. But would she have remained silent? Would she have challenged the current management of the services today, even whose language seems designed to alienate the very people they are meant to serve?”

“But if we are to really tackle exclusion and alienation in Irish society we also need a management revolution in the public service. Management that stifles criticism, does not seek the views of the people in the front line, is doomed to continue to waste resources and not help to end the alienation and exclusion of the people I meet everyday. Members of religious communities are in a unique position to help encourage that radical change. I am confident Catherine McAuley if she was with us today would be at the forefront in asking the awkward questions that need to be asked now more than ever before,” Alice Leahy said.

Lecture Delivered by Alice Leahy, Director & Co-Founder of TRUST

John Keegan Weekend, Portlaoise, Friday, October 5, 2001

Alice Leahy, Director and Co-Founder of TRUST, delivered a lecture on the Theme: “Is Home where the Hearth is?” at the John Keegan Weekend.

Describing a direct link between her work with people who become homeless to the work of John Keegan, Alice Leahy said:

“I do believe strongly that our writers challenge us and remind us that the human condition is complex and doesn’t change in spite of so called progress.”

Alice said that she believed that writing, radio and drama do much to pose questions and stimulate debate and emphasised that the work of a writer like John Keegan was especially important to her given the work she does.

“I have a special interest in the poor houses where people lived and died because even today I meet people where the word poor houses brings tears to the eye and a shiver to the spine. Sadly many professionals in the area of health and social care don’t even know of their existence.”

Describing Trust’s work Alice went on:

“We encourage and help people who come to us to avail of statutory services and to obtain their entitlements; to place a value on themselves; to develop a sense of self-esteem and avoid dependence on private charity.”

“We meet people whose bodies have been ravaged by disease, stabbed, burned by cigarettes. Many have pressure sores from sleeping out in all weathers, sometime sleeping in urine soaked clothes for weeks. Major skin problems are not uncommon like leg ulcers as well as lice, scabies and even malnutrition.

“All the medical conditions common to the general public but exacerbated by poor living conditions. Often dispirited by feelings of despair and inadequacy and many taken over by addiction to society’s drugs, including alcohol and gambling.

“Many pushed from service to service just like figures on a chess board and some unable to get relief for minds at breaking point. The only solution at times brown envelopes of medication. Some trying to create some sense of normality after years locked away in institutions and others just relocated from one institution to another in the name of progress. Many who have attempted suicide and some who sadly decided to end it all.

“We attempt as best we can to meet people as they are, listen and do what we can as fellow human beings – it’s not easy. Sometimes the only hearing people we meet get, is when they are being researched. That is why we have grave reservations about the quality and quantity of research taking place today.

Alice Leahy also highlighted the work undertaken by Trust to make people aware of what it means to be an outsider in Irish society today. The widespread reaction from students and teachers to the documentary about TRUST’s work led to the creation of the TRUST Transition Year Project and a National Essay Competition on the theme of the OUTSIDER is only one example of the several projects organised over the years to raise awareness. That project also led to the creation of the TRUST web site www.trust-ireland.ie .

Trust Alice Leahy pointed out is very committed to everyone’s right to privacy and respect.

“Some agencies involved with people who are homeless may not respect everybody’s right to the confidential use and storage of information. Some people who are homeless feel pressurised to take part in research into homelessness in case they may lose their hostel bed or their entitlements.

“The most important part of our work is accepting people as they are. We refuse to use labels like client, down and out etc. and you will realise that causes problems for decision makers etc. We are also conscious of the fact that research appears to be the answer to everything these days and I use every opportunity I get to question research.”

Alice said that John Keegan’s work provided real insights into how destructive such invasions of privacy can be without appropriate respect being shown to the individual.

“The people I meet daily are labelled homeless by service providers, politicians etc. but most have created a home for themselves in sometimes the unlikeliest of places. Structurally the home may be a hostel, a car, a skipper which can be anything sometimes like the cabby houses or dens (imaginary house) some of us invented in our youth. But home is more than physical structures.”

Alice Leahy during her lecture also quoted many examples from the people she meets
everyday to show what it means to be really homeless in Irish society today.

“It comes as a surprise or shock to many to discover family members homeless – some people manage to hide it from family and neighbours. Sometimes at Christmas people come to us for a suit of clothes to go back home, some give fictitious names and places of abode when in hospital or participating in research.

“It is easy to understand this at times – people leave the family abode for various reasons. Some leave to work, get experience, see the world, create their own world. Others leave for less identifiable reasons.

“Home is not always as cosy as the Christmas Card presents. Small towns how ever nice they appear can be stifling. The valley of the squinting windows still exists. A visit to a psychiatric hospital or prison can still lead to stigma. Irregular relationships may cause gossip.

Alice also outlined why some of the people she had come in contact with in Trust had returned penniless with no accommodation from the UK.

“We were going through some data at work recently, going through 300 – 400 names from the early eighties all male 150 approximately of those had returned from U.K. all penniless and with no accommodation arranged. There were various reasons for returning:

Many had spent from a few years to 30 years in the services – army or navy. Some had returned without pensions being sorted out.

One man poignantly returned for a holiday and got drunk the night he was to go back to the U.K. missed the boat, spent the rest of his money and slept out.

One man who was committed to a psychiatric hospital by his wife, escaped, went to U.K. and returned many years later.

Many had spent years working hard on the buildings.

A number ended up in hostels, lonely, drank to blot out the pain, they then became part of the homeless population and statistics in some report gathering dust somewhere.

Some slept out, ended up in prison or psychiatric hospital and managed to keep this from their families.

“We should remember that there were no mobile phones in those days and indeed land lines were not that plentiful either. Many people then and now couldn’t read or write – I should note the letter writing of people in the past was a treasure.

“I wonder in spite of increased wealth can we still wonder at the innumerable wrongs or have we really learned anything about mans inhumanity to man.

In her concluding remarks Alice expressed the hope that they would never become insensitive in their work as the pressures in the society continue to mount:

“The deaths of people we work with always make us think and please God it will always be the case. Sadly in recent times many people who have been homeless have died on the streets of our cities – generally these days never mentioned and sometimes if they are it can be insensitively.”

Alice Leahy’s Address televised on RTE 1 Television during the Leaders Speech at the Labour National Conference.

Text of speech delivered during the Leaders Address
-Labour National Conference, City Hall, Cork
Saturday, 29 September, 2001

In the last 3 weeks, two people we know – ANN a 21 year old mother of 2 children – died in a doorway; and IAN a man in his 30’s drowned in the Dodder.

SANDRA and MARK’s much longed-for baby died – only a few months old. They slept rough in the Phoenix Park for years before we got them B&B accommodation. Their grief is barely imaginable.

It has become fashionable to suggest that the image of homelessness has changed. People who are employed in poorly paid jobs are unable to get private rented accommodation, are ineligible for local authority housing, and book into hostels – taking up beds traditionally used for homeless people.

The image has changed but the reality is even worse.

One night last week, 39 men could not find accommodation through the freefone service – what about the others with no access to phones.

Mothers and children are often given a cheque to go and find accommodation themselves.

Many of the people we meet walk around on blistered, bleeding and ulcerated feet. Afraid their shoes will be robbed, they leave them on 24 hours. These same people continue to be referred from agency to agency.

Envelopes of addictive medication and a bed under a tree is generally all that’s on offer for many of the outsiders – people we used to call homeless, who have now been completely marginalized.

But more money is being spent than ever before in the field of poverty.

More highly paid but inexperienced people are deployed to work in this sector as if poverty is some kind of industry to be exploited.

More researchers and consultants produce more and more reports to be discussed in centres of luxury far-removed from the smell and pain of poverty.

And more and more workers on the ground are ignored.

Our views are rarely if ever sought, and if sought, as I know from personal experience, only a token reference is made. That is why I welcome this opportunity as someone from a non political organisation to speak to you this evening and indeed would speak to any political party as it is important that we face up to the even further marginalisation of the most vulnerable in Irish society.

People who become homeless continue to be treated like fodder for researchers – often trading information for help.

In November 2000, an expensive hostels-on-line service, based on the London model, was launched. It was redundant before it even got off the ground because there were never beds available. And how the people I work with were going to access a computer beggars belief!

Hostels, are pressured to accept people likely to be successful – people who fit in and do not have “problems” (problems that in most cases led to many becoming homeless in the first place!) because grants are dependent on performance indicators.

Performance Indicators, which are defined by people who do not understand or know the people they are talking about.

Emergency accommodation is generally for one night – if available, and after giving their life story, they are referred on to more of the same.

Bed & Breakfast type accommodation is totally unsuitable for long-term accommodation. Facilities often come nowhere near the standards laid down. People who complain are promptly asked to leave because there are many more queuing to get in.

We need resources definitely to solve the growing crisis of homelessness, not least to free up hostel accommodation.

But if we are to really tackle this problem we also need a management revolution in the public service. Management that stifles criticism, does not seek the views of the people in the front line, is doomed to continue to waste resources and not help to end the alienation and exclusion of the people I meet everyday.