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Sinn
Féin Mountmellick - Serving The Community
Monday, 9 December 2013
Thursday, 5 December 2013
Local Government Politicians Fail To Protect The Most Vulnerable Yet Again
Laois Nationalist,
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2013
EIGHT Laois people have
availed of the Midlands Simon Emergency Accommodation Service since it opened
last year.
The Midlands Simon Community celebrated the first birthday of
its emergency accommodation service in Tullamore, which covers the Laois/Offaly
area.
The milestone was attended
by public representatives Offaly TD Marcella Corcorcan Kennedy and members of
the Midlands Simon Community. Independent research revealed at the event showed
that the Midlands Simon Community in Tullamore and the wider midlands region
delivers the most cost-effective homeless support service in the country in
terms of both value for money and positive outcomes. According to Murtagh and
Associates, who carried out a review of the services in July 2013: “No other
service in the country has attained similar efficiencies.”
Research findings show the
proportion of homeless people supported by the Midlands Simon Community, who
successfully move into independent living arrangements, is ten times the
national average. The proportion of former homeless people being supported by
the Midlands Simon Community to remain out of homelessness is substantially
above the national average at 65 percent.
In relation to the
emergency accommodation service in Tullamore alone, the demand for the service
since its opening in June 2012 can be seen as: 34 admissions (25 male
admissions and nine female admissions), an average occupancy rate of 89% and
76% of residents attained a successful housing outcome, which highlights the
need and benefits of the service to those who need emergency accommodation.
Of these figures, four
male admissions and four female admissions were originally from Laois, with 75%
of them attaining a successful housing outcome following their stay in the
emergency accommodation service.
The service does not just
provide a bed for the night for those who might otherwise be sleeping rough,
but works with clients to help them rebuild their lives and return to
independent and stable living through key working sessions and life skills
training. Tony O’Riordan, CEO of Midlands Simon Community, said: “We have
worked with people who were sleeping in a car, in a bin, in a field and in a
house without running water,” he said. “We are the last port of call for people
experiencing homelessness.”
Despite an increased
demand, the Midlands Simon Community receives one of the lowest levels of
funding in the country – just 1.5% percent of state funding spent on
homelessness. Cuts of 12.27% in homeless services in the midlands were delivered
in September. This compares to some regions receiving no cut in funding.
Speaking at the event in
Tullamore, Mr O’Riordan added: “Midlands Simon Community is doing fantastic
work and has a positive relationship with the local authority and the HSE. We
are punching well above our weight and delivering extremely positive results
for the people we support on a daily basis. We have the lowest number of staff
employed in homeless services yet we achieve the highest level of positive
outcomes for those we support in the country.
“However,
we simply could not continue to deliver such a service if the 15 percent cut to
our state funding is not reversed.
Such a cut threatens the survival of the one last safety net for those who have
no home and nowhere else to turn. It makes no sense to cut support for services
that are yielding such a positive return for the state and the most vulnerable
people in our communities; particularly
when the government claims that it wants to end long-term homelessness by 2016.”
Over 100 volunteers give
their time each week to support the work of Midlands Simon Community. Visitwww.midlandssimon.com or call 090 6444641 for more information or how you can
get involved.
Sinn Féin Mountmellick
– Serving The Community
Establish An Independent International Truth Commission
by Sinn Féin's Gerry Adams
Thursday, December 5, 2013
The Smithwick Inquiry Report
Eight years after it
was established the report of the Smithwick Tribunal was finally published on
Tuesday evening.
I want to commend
Justice Smithwick for his hard work of many years. I am very mindful that at
the heart of the Smithwick Inquiry there are two bereaved families and I hope
the report helps bring some measure of closure for them.
I also want to
commend the Irish government for fulfilling its obligation under the Weston
Park Agreement. The onus is now on the British government to move speedily to
holding the promised inquiry into the murder of human rights lawyer Pat
Finucane.
The Smithwick
Tribunal was established as a result of an agreement in the negotiations in
Weston Park in 2001 between the British and Irish governments.
Canadian Judge Peter
Cory was asked to look at the killing of Pat Finucane; Robert Hamill; Rosemary
Nelson; Billy Wright; Judge Gibson and his wife; and RUC Chief Superintendent
Harry Breen and RUC Superintendent Robert Buchanan.
Cory worked
diligently and in 2003 he handed his reports over to the two governments. The
Canadian Judge concluded that there was no basis for an inquiry into the deaths
of the Gibsons. He proposed that there was a basis for inquiries into all of
the others, including the killing of the two RUC officers.
The Irish government
published Cory’s recommendations in December 2003 and announced that it would
set up an inquiry, but the British stalled until April 2004 before publishing
his reports to them.
Ten years later of
the six cases investigated by Judge Cory only the Pat Finucane Inquiry has yet
to commence. It is clear that the British government is deeply worried by the
enormous political implications of the Finucane case which is known to involve
substantial institutional collusion between British state forces and the UDA.
This concern was
evident in the introduction by the British government in June 2005 of the Inquiries Act 2005. This legislation deliberately limits the scope of the
inquiries proposed by Cory who criticised the British move saying it "...would
make a meaningful inquiry impossible."
In June 2006 I met
with Justice Smithwick at his request. He asked if I could help. I explained to
him that in 2005 the IRA put its weapons beyond use and stood down its
structures. The IRA had left the stage. However, after some effort three former
IRA volunteers agreed to give evidence to the Tribunal.
A process was put in
place to facilitate this. When this was achieved Sinn Féin stepped back and the
process moved forward. This was a significant and unprecedented development.
For the first time former members of the IRA gave evidence to an inquiry into
an IRA action. Clearly this would not have been possible if the Tribunal had
not created the context to allow it.
The decision by three
former members of the IRA to voluntarily give evidence to the Smithwick
Tribunal was an important development. This was the first time former members
of the IRA have ever given evidence to an inquiry into an IRA action. The
engagement between the three former volunteers and Smithwick is historically
unparalleled.
Justice Smithwick
accepts much of the evidence given by the former IRA volunteers, for example
describing their witness account as a ‘valuable resource for the Tribunal.’ At
other points in his report he acknowledges that their evidence in respect of
the movement of the RUC car is ‘fully consistent’ with information logged in
the journal of RUC Superintendent Bob Buchanan.
Justice Smithwick’s
conclusion is contradictory. On the one hand he concludes that the Tribunal ‘has
not uncovered direct evidence of collusion’.
But then, in a clear
contradiction of this and on the basis of circumstantial and untested
intelligence Justice Smithwick then goes on to say that ‘on balance
of probability’ some form of collusion occurred.
What Justice
Smithwick defines as collusion is very different in form and scale from the
collusion that occurred in the north. During 30 years of war the British state
was responsible for structured, institutionalised and co-ordinated state run
collusion and unionist death squads which led to the deaths of hundreds of
citizens, including those killed in the Dublin and Monaghan and Dundalk bomb
attacks.
The British
government arrogantly disregards the unanimous all-party Oireachtas motion
calling on it to provide vital information about these bomb attacks. The Pat
Finucane Inquiry is now the only inquiry agreed to at Weston Park that has not
been held. The British government is in clear breach of its commitments.
The Irish government
now needs to assertively lobby the British government, including at an
international level, to honour its commitment and to set up the promised public
inquiry into the murder of Pat Finucane.
Sinn Féin supported
these inquires on the basis that families had the right to full disclosure of
all relevant information. Sinn Féin believes that there needs to be an
effective truth process for dealing with all legacy issues.
We have repeatedly
called on the British and Irish governments to invite in a reputable and
independent international body to establish an Independent International Truth
Commission which would be independent of any state, combatant groups, political
parties, civil society and economic interests and would have a remit to inquire
into the extent and pattern of the conflict as well as their causes and
consequences.
I helped to
facilitate the engagement between the former IRA volunteers and the Smithwick
Tribunal because I believe there is a responsibility to assist families
bereaved in the conflict, though this may not be possible in all cases.
Republicans are very
conscious of the hurt and suffering which has been caused through conflict in
our country. Sinn Féin has repeatedly called on the British and Irish
governments to invite in a reputable and independent international body to
establish an Independent International Truth Commission which would be
independent of any state, combatant groups, political parties, civil society
and economic interests.
It should have a
remit to inquire into the extent and pattern of past violations as well as
their causes and consequences and would be dependent on the full co-operation
of all the relevant parties.
Sinn Féin Mountmellick – Serving The
Community
Wednesday, 4 December 2013
Prison Overcrowding = Bad living Conditions, Poor Working Conditions And Reflects Badly On The Irish Nation
Prison overcrowding can be solved
with implementation of Oireachtas Committee report
4 December, 2013 - by Pádraig Mac Lochlainn TD
Dóchas women’s centre in Mountjoy
Prison, Sinn Féin Justice Spokesperson, Pádraig Mac Lochlainn has said that the
serious issues raised would be addressed if the Oireachtas Justice Committee's
report and recommendations on penal reform were implemented by the Government.
Speaking today Deputy Mac Lochlainn
said “Sinn Féin has long called for the use of alternatives to custodial
sentences such as fines and community service for low level, non-violent
crimes.
The Oireachtas Justice Committee
report on penal reform recommends this approach also as one of their five key
recommendations.
“If this report was implemented in
full I am sure this would solve the problem of overcrowding reported this
morning and would go a long way to solving the problem of overcrowding in our
men’s prisons also.
“I call on the Justice Minister Alan
Shatter to ensure that this report is implemented as soon as possible.”
ENDS
Note: The five recommendations from
the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality on penal
reform:
RECOMMENDATIONS
1. REDUCE PRISON NUMBERS.
The
Sub-Committee is concerned about the significant increase over recent years in
the numbers of prisoners in Ireland. It strongly recommends the adoption of a ̳de-incarceration strategy‘; a
declared intention by the Government to reduce the prison population by
one-third over a ten-year period.
2. COMMUTE PRISON SENTENCES OF LESS
THAN SIX MONTHS.
The Sub-Committee recommends that all
sentences for under 6 months imprisonment imposed in respect of non-violent
offences should be commuted and replaced with community service orders.
3. INCREASE STANDARD REMISSION FROM
ONE-QUARTER TO ONE-THIRD AND INTRODUCE AN INCENTIVISED REMISSION SCHEME OF UP
TO ONE- HALF.
The Sub-Committee recommends that
standard remission should be increased from one-quarter to one-third of all
sentences over one month in length. An enhanced remission scheme of up to
one-half should be made available on an incentivised basis for certain
categories of prisoner, particularly those serving a prison sentence for the
first time.
4. INTRODUCE LEGISLATION PROVIDING
FOR STRUCTURED RELEASE, TEMPORARY RELEASE, PAROLE AND COMMUNITY RETURN.
The Sub-Committee endorses the Irish
Penal Reform Trust recommendation for a single piece of legislation which would
set out the basis for a structured release system; to include proposed changes
to remission set out above, and to temporary release and parole. The
Sub-Committee recommends that this legislation could also provide a statutory
framework for an expanded community return programme. Legislation could also
underpin the strategies currently used by groups working with offenders
post-release, and with potential offenders.
5. ADDRESS PRISON CONDITIONS AND
OVERCROWDING; AND INCREASE THE USE OF OPEN PRISONS.
The Sub-Committee was informed that structured release and
incentivised remission programmes could not operate effectively within prisons
unless prison conditions are improved and overcrowding tackled. The
recommendations listed above would help to alleviate the overcrowding problem.
In addition, actions should be taken to improve conditions within prisons
generally. The proportion of open prisons should also be increased.
Sinn Féin Mountmellick – Serving The Community
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