The Fianna Fáil/Green & Fine Gael/Labour Governments
imposition of Austerity has targeted the poor, the new poor, young and old but
not the Rich or powerful sections of Irish Society. Two recent articles below
reveal the true emerging situation in Ireland. Locally in Laois and Nationally.
Sinn Féin’s costed alternative Budget will be Published this Week
Laois
Nationalist
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 03, 2013
GRAIGUECULLEN parish
priest Fr John Dunphy has been so moved by the plight of people calling to his
door looking for food that he is now spearheading plans to establish the first
meal centre in the Carlow/Graiguecullen area.
“A lot of people are
coming to my door and saying they’re hungry. It’s a frightening situation. We
are doing this so that people don’t have to go to bed hungry,” explained Fr
Dunphy, PP. “We are very conscious that there is a need for this.”
The shocking reality
facing families has also led to plans to hand out much-needed food parcels
locally and, eventually, hot meals to children and their parents at the new
meal centre.
Fr Dunphy, cllr Jennifer
Murnane O’Connor and local woman Isobel Brooker have been working on plans for
a meal centre for the past four months in response to the growing problems
faced by impoverished families in the Carlow/Graiguecullen area.
In the coming weeks, they
will hand out food parcels containing basic items such as bread, milk, cheese,
fruit, sugar, tea and more to families in need around the county. It is hoped
that the food parcels will be ready for distribution one day a week by early
November. And in the months to come, a hot food kitchen will be opened to
provide warm meals to distressed families.
“A lot of schools are
doing great breakfast clubs, but it’s when they go home … they need help,”
added Fr Dunphy.
The trio visited the
Capuchin Day Centre in Dublin recently to help out and get some ideas for the
Carlow operation.
“We worked in it twice and
it was great to see how it operates. It gave us an insight into how it works,”
added cllr Murnane O’Connor.
“We have all dealt with
people locally who are finding it hard. After paying their bills, they are
struggling. We just want to help.”
At present, they are
pricing suitable locations for the hot food centre, which they hope to open
before Christmas. They are also keen to get volunteers and businesses on board
to help out.
“There are families who
are finding it very hard. Now is the time for this – there is such a need out
there. We are there to help, not to judge,” added cllr Murnane O’Connor.
Irish Examiner August 24, 2013
Families
forced to feed kids at soup kitchens
By Gordon Deegan and Catherine Shanahan
Saturday, August 24, 2013
A growing network of soup kitchens
across the country is serving 2,445 free meals a week as the country’s mortgage
arrears crisis deepens and parents struggle with back-to-school costs.
Yesterday, the founder of Twist Soup
Kitchens, Oliver Williams, confirmed workers were seeing "a marked
increase in demand" for food at his soup kitchens due to pressures on
families, particularly single parents, struggling to pay for schoolbooks and
uniforms.
Mr Williams confirmed he intends to open up the seventh Twist soup
kitchen in Ennis on Sept 2, with plans for a further three in the pipeline.
He said the Clare soup kitchen is being opened in response to contact made by
locals — just four months after the body of a homeless Czech national was found
in a laneway in Ennis.
Josef Pavelka’s plight received national attention
when a judge described his living in a public toilet as a scandal.
Mr
Williams said if a Twist soup kitchen was in place when Mr Pavelka was alive,
"it would have certainly helped" his situation.
Mr Williams’s
comments come as the Citizens’ Information Bureau claimed that social welfare
processing delays continue to cause hardship and distress. There were problems
with rent supplement processing systems, in particular, which were
"associated in some cases with potential homelessness".
Mr Williams
described the profile of those using soup kitchens as alarming: "We have
people from across society. There is a new poor that cannot afford to pay
mortgages with children going to school hungry — that is a fact."
The
opening of the Twist soup kitchen in Ennis comes 14 months after the first
opening in Galway.
Since then, five others have opened — at Loughrea,
Athlone, Sligo, Roscommon, and Tuam.
Mr Williams said he plans to open more
at Drogheda, Kildare, and Mullingar before the end of the year.
The building
in Ennis is being provided by a local church group, the Hope Assembly.
The
food is provided free of charge and Mr Williams revealed that the
Limerick-based company Pallas Foods makes several deliveries every week.
"We don’t know what we will receive with each delivery, and yesterday we
received from Pallas Food 300 chickens, 100 partridges, and 48 buckets of fresh
salad," he said.
Mr Williams said that O’Hara’s Bakery of Foxford
provides 10 loaves of bread each day.
"All of this food is free and
without their help, we wouldn’t be able to continue."
Mr Williams said
Twist soup kitchens require 5kg of minced meat each day to provide their beef
stews.
He said: "We are subject to HSE regulations and must prepare food
and have hygiene standards on a level with any five-star hotel kitchen."
Truck magnate Pino Harris has given the charity a Hino-refrigerated lorry
free of charge.
Mr Williams had a bird’s eye view of the Celtic Tiger with
his helicopter business flying developers and auctioneers around Ireland.
That business collapsed and Mr Williams — who celebrated his 47th birthday
yesterday — said: "A measure of any nation is how it treats its weakest
members and I believe that the weakest members of our society have been forgotten."
Mr Williams said he endured a short bout of homelessness when he was aged 15
in London and availed of a soup kitchen during that time.
This story appeared in the printed version of the Irish Examiner
Saturday, August 24, 2013
Sinn Féin Mountmellick – Serving The Community
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