McVerry trust named overall winner of 'Irish Times' Living Dublin Awards

HOMELESS CHARITY The Peter McVerry Trust has been named the overall winner of The Irish TimesLiving Dublin Awards.

The trust, set up by Jesuit priest Fr Peter McVerry 30 years ago, works to reduce homelessness, drug misuse and social disadvantage through its provision of housing and support services.

Since Fr McVerry opened a three-bedroom flat in Ballymun 30 years ago for the accommodation of young homeless people, the charity has grown to provide support for 400 people annually.

It was also named as the overall winner in the Community Development category.

The awards have been going for 15 years and are run by the Dublin Chamber of Commerce, Dublin City Council and Covanta Energy.

The Irish Timesis the title sponsor.

Speaking after the presentation at a ceremony in Trinity College Dublin’s Science Gallery yesterday, Fr McVerry said he hoped the awards were a recognition that the homeless still mattered.

“That the homeless continue to exist is an indictment of our political leaders because homelessness could have been eliminated during the Celtic Tiger but the will was not there. My greatest desire is to do myself out of a job,” he said.

KPMG’s Get Cents programme, which was set up to help young people from the North Wall community manage their money more efficiently, ran out winner in the Business in the Community category.

The Street Performance World Championship won the culture and tourism category. The festival started in August 2006 and over the last four years it has quadrupled in size with more than 130,000 attending in June 2009.

Walkinstown Association Garden Project won the Dublin City Neighbourhoods category.

Formed in 2005, the project provides a free garden-maintenance service to older people and people with disabilities who can no longer maintain their gardens.

Members of the project receive horticulture training from a VEC tutor to produce 20,000 bedding plants annually which are sold to Dublin City Council and other community projects.