The powerless bystanders

ONLY a quarter of the electorate in Cherry Orchard bothered to vote in the recent Dublin West by election "because the people have lost faith in the system", says Annette Farrell.

Annette and her husband Denis have been living in Cherry Orchard since 1983. Unemployment in the estate is around 50 per cent, they say, and the combination of low welfare payments and a dearth of local facilities, has people feeling they have been abandoned by the rest of society.

"There's a vast drugs problem," says Denis. "People have been begging the TDs to do something, but the only time you hear from them is when there's an election."

"Talking to TDs is just a joke," says Annette.

The couple say that the voice of the marginalised in society is simply not being heard by those in power. In areas such as Cherry Orchard, says Annette, mothers feel that the State cares nothing for their children, seeing them only as an expense, a burden.

Denis worked for years as an upholsterer with Odearest but the same year the couple moved to their home in Cherry Orchard, he was laid off. When he went looking for work, he says, employers told him he was too old.

He was 36.

Anaette, who had worked as a machinist up to when she had her first child, found work in a nearby factory. Two years later the factory closed.

The couple have been living on welfare ever since.

They have five children, four daughters and one son, ranging in age from 22 years to eight and all living at home. Their eldest daughter has a one year old child.

Asked how they feel when they hear media reports of how, well the economy is performing, Denis says: "It means nothing to me".

"Oh I know there is wealth out there," says Annette. "But some have it and some don't."

Their son Richard, the eldest child, is unemployed. Rachel gets the unmarried mother's allowance. Michelle works in a box making factory. Denis and Annette get a weekly unemployment payment of £124 per week, for themselves and their two youngest children.

Since 1988 they have been paying £20 per week towards the purchase of their home. This money and £10 a week towards their ESB bill is docked at source, so they won't fall into arrears. Life assurance costs £5.

That leaves £65 a week to feed and clothe themselves and their two youngest children, send the children to school, pay for books, busfares, extra fuel costs, and so on.

"The figures don't work," says Denis. "It can't be done."

The worst aspect of not having enough money, the couple say, is the effect it has on the potential of their children.

Rachel would have liked to have trained as a nurse and Michelle would have liked to have gone to the College of Catering, on Cathal Brugha Street, but the family could not pay for it. Sharon, who is 16 and still in school, would like to train as a counsellor in Maynooth University, "but I don't think we can afford it".

"Educating your children is the biggest problem for the unemployed," says Annette. "There are children out there with brains to burn but after the Leaving Cert, they just can't go any further.

Denis says he blamed himself when he lost his job (the company had laid off around 40 workers at the time) and grew very depressed. What kept him going was his involvement in community work.

When Denis and Annette agreed to be interviewed they suggested the meeting take place in the Bungalow Resource Centre. The centre, established by the Daughters of Charity in 1990, is used by around 200 adults each week.

It hosts courses in personal development, listening and communication skills, self awareness, assertiveness, befriending, literacy and many other subjects.

The centre is run by Sister Bernadette. "She has motivated people to get up and do something with their lives," says Denis.

The increase in self esteem that people have achieved through the centre is helping them to cope, Denis explains. Standing outside, looking at the sun shining down on Cherry Orchard, he adds that there is a lot of pain in the estate: "Because of the unemployment. Because people can't cope."