Sir, – The Apollo House project is not a private initiative by a few wealthy individuals, but a public initiative, led by some people who have the means and the courage to be able to take a risk.
They are using their public profiles in the best possible way: to highlight a disgraceful social issue, to mobilise and galvanise support, and to provide a focus for the countless ordinary people who want to help alleviate homelessness.
Questions about the celebrities’ personal wealth and motives only serve to divert from the public, grassroots nature of this innovative project.
Elected politicians are paid to serve and protect the people, not the multinational banks and hedge funds. The generous and inclusive response of the Apollo House project is infinitely preferable to the right-wing movements that have sprung up across the US and Europe.
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If our objections to neoliberal socioeconomic decline continue to take the form of progressive social action, Ireland can show the world that people-power does not have to be reactionary and divisive to be effective. – Yours, etc,
MAEVE HALPIN,
Ranelagh,
Dublin 6.