Resisting PPPs 'critical'

THE VOLUNTARY sector must unite in an attempt to resist public private partnerships (PPPs) and privatisation of health and social services, the director of a homeless people’s trust has said.

Alice Leahy of Trust Ireland said the voluntary sector risked becoming complicit in letting the State avoid providing decent public services unless they demanded justice for the most deprived. “If we are serious about caring for people as people, everyone in the voluntary sector must reject the encroachment of privatisation in all its forms in the health and social services, and in the provision of accommodation for people who are homeless.

“We cannot expect the private sector, which is solely concerned with making profits, to protect people’s rights to basic services.”

She said the recent collapse of PPPs in Dublin represented a shattering blow to families involved, waiting for social housing and the redevelopment of their areas.

Pat Cogan, of Respond, Ireland’s largest not-for-profit Housing Association, said the increase in community breakdown was caused by a lack of proper resources and segregation of lower-income families in one area.

He said supports had to be identified before development of new social housing estates to ensure their long-term sustainability.