Agencies working with the homeless have described as "callous" and "inappropriate" remarks made recently by Minister for Housing Noel Ahern, which they say implied that people slept rough by choice, writes Ruadhán Mac Cormaic
During a public debate on homelessness attended by the leaders of the main political parties last week, Mr Ahern commented, during a discussion of the Swedish experience, that "it's too cold to sleep rough in Sweden".
The director of the Simon Communities of Ireland, Patrick Burke, said the remark pointed to "a lack of understanding" of the issues and did not "instil confidence" in the sector.
"There were students present, there were people who work in the sector present, but there were people who actually experienced homelessness also present, and I think it was an incredibly insensitive comment, and callous, when you consider these people know and have experienced what it is to sleep rough, and none of them have done so out of choice; they have done so out of tragic circumstances that have occurred in their lives," he said.
The head of social justice and policy at the St Vincent de Paul, John Mark McCafferty, said the remark was "very inappropriate".
"It was clearly misplaced, clearly unhelpful, clearly inappropriate.
"I'm not sure if he saw the error of his ways, but certainly there was a shared disdain, and a bit of disbelief for what had been said."
Mr Ahern said his comment, which was made at a debate in Trinity College organised by the MakeRoom campaign led by four charities working in the area, was meant to be flippant and was not intended to cause offence.
He said he wished to point out that while Sweden was being cited as an example by several members of the audience, Ireland consistently outperformed it in providing housing for its citizens.
"Sweden popped up several times. One man suggested from the audience that we should talk to Ikea, to give everyone a wooden house or something," he said.
"I don't know if we have an awful lot to learn from Sweden, because on the production side of things, we're always top of the list and Sweden is always at the bottom. The figure this year is that we produced 21 houses per 1,000 of population, whereas Sweden is at the bottom of the list.
"It [ the remark] wasn't a slag of homeless people as such; it was a slightly flippant remark in relation to why Sweden was popping up so often."
In Dublin, some people occasionally did choose not to board an emergency bus that brings those sleeping rough to shelters.
"People do choose, because of their complex problems, to sleep rough, but I'm never recommending sleeping rough to anybody. That's why we have put such massive resources into emergency accommodation in recent years," Mr Ahern said.
Sinn Féin's Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin, who took issue with the Minister's remark at the debate, said he was "incensed" by it. "I believed that the Minister's remark betrayed a fault line in his thinking.
"Homelessness is not something that people choose: people are made homeless. For the Minister to imply that people in Ireland, because the weather conditions weren't as severe as in Sweden, might actually make that choice is infuriating. It's too cold in Ireland, never mind the conditions in Sweden.
"The reality is, whether Minister Noel Ahern has picked up on it or not, is that we have people dying on the streets of our capital city every wintertime from exposure and hypothermia."