Colm Burke (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I join my colleagues who have raised the issue of Simon Week. Last night I attended the launch of a Simon project by John Lonergan, former governor of Mountjoy Prison. During the course of his speech he was interrupted by someone who was complaining about the fact that they were locked out of the Simon Community hostel the previous night, which indicates the strain it is under as regards accommodating the number of people who are now living on the street. It would be appropriate to have more joined-up thinking between voluntary agencies such as the Simon Community and local authorities about moving people on from hostel accommodation if that is possible. I am not sure enough work is being done in terms of giving assistance to the Simon Community to help people to get off the street into a hostel and then move on to permanent accommodation. We must do more.

Much effort is made by the volunteers in Cork alone. They have to raise more than ¤1 million a year to keep the facilities there going. That is a huge contribution by people but the support they give is also a recognition of the work the Simon Community does. There is a need for much more to be done both by the Government and at local authority level in working with the Simon Community to deal with the problems.