Vol. 395 No. 9
16 Mr. Deenihan asked the Minister for Labour if he will extend the remit of DÍON to include the provision of funding for hostel accommodation in view of the alarming number of homeless Irish in London according to recent surveys.
Homelessness is a major problem in London, both among the unemployed and, in some cases, those in low paid employment. I should stress, however, that the vast majority in those categories are not Irish people.
The problem of homelessness among Irish emigrants to Britain is of particular concern to me. For that reason, I went and saw for myself, at first hand, what the situation was like in London. On the basis of that experience, my advice to any young person contemplating going to London is clear and simple, as it has been over the last three years: if you do not have accommodation and a job fixed up in advance, do not go. This is a central element in the FÁS pre-emigration service.
DÍON funding was increased from £250,000 in 1988 to £500,000 in 1989 and has been maintained at that level in 1990. It is used to assist voluntary organisations helping Irish people with accommodation and/or employment difficulties. The additional funding allocated to DION has enabled assistance to be given to organisations dealing specifically with the homeless such as: Acton Homeless Concern, Cricklewood Homeless Concern, King's Cross Homelessness Project, Irish Families Project, South London Family Services Unit, Irish Women's Housing Action Group, Cara-Irish Homeless Project and An Teach. Many other organisations funded by DÍON, as part of their range of services for Irish emigrants, offer information on accommodation. I am particularly hopeful that the Cara project will give us a statistical base on which to plan future action.
I presume the question relates to the provision of funding for the construction and running costs of hostel accommodation. As I intimated in reply to a similar question on 29 November 1989, DÍON received several applications for projects involving a capital element which it was clearly not possible to fund from the DÍON allocation. I also indicated on that occasion that many voluntary emigrant welfare groups were of the view that funding of the capital costs of hostel accommodation should properly be the responsibility of the relevant local authority.
For these and other reasons I am not in favour of extending the remit of DÍON to the funding of hostel accommodation. Apart from anything else, the cost would be prohibitive and would only reduce the amount available for other urgently needed front line services which rely heavily on DÍON grants. My information is that DÍON itself would not favour such a proposal.
I understand fully the Minister's point of view on the provision of accommodation but a recent survey carried out in the Soho area showed that 15 per cent of the homeless there were Irish. It is estimated that 5,000 Irish people are living in what is called "cardboard city", and this does not take into account the number of Irish people who are squatting or sleeping on floors in friends' accommodation. Surely the Government should have a direct input into the provision of accommodation? A number of Irish groups, for example, The Kerrymen's Association and The Mayomen's Association, who are trying to provide hostel accommodation for these people should be aided in some way. I should like to ask the Minister——
I want to assist the Deputy in eliciting information but I want to dissuade him from making what is obviously a speech.
I will ask a question. Does the Minister think there is any possiblility that these organisations could qualify for some form of funding because they are providing——
The Deputy has made his point adequately.
——very necessary accommodation?
The county associations are doing an excellent job. I know Deputy Deenihan and other Members have visited them and we have been supporting them in whatever way we can. The Government have been moving, particularly with the provision of additional money last year, to help those organisations, rather than some of the more traditional organisations, who are out on the street providing front line services. However, with the provision of extra money last year we were able to help both types of organisations.
Some Irish apprentices from FÁS have worked on projects in Camden Town and other locations. Our aim is to work with organisations like Cara who, because they receive backing from the Irish Government for their social workers scheme, have been able to get substantial grants from the local boroughs and authorities thus enabling them to provide extremely good services. As the Deputies know, they have set up excellent housing projects. We are working closely with Cara in that respect.
With regard to the Soho project, we have funded the people who are working in cardboard city and we are working closely with them trying to overcome the difficulties being experienced by the Irish community who are living in that area.
The Minister stated that there was no provision within the resources of DÍON to fund capital projects for housing. Has the Minister explored the possiblility, within the framework of the European Community, and particularly money from the Social Fund available for migrant workers, of some kind of European assistance being given to the London local authorities to deal with what is clearly a migrant worker problem in a European context and not just an Irish-British one?
I have not considered that possibility but I will certainly consider it.
