UNICEF concerned at increasing numbers of young homeless people

At a time when European countries including Ireland have been "reaching dazzling levels of economic prosperity", there are an estimated three million homeless within the EU, according to a UNICEF report due to be issued today.

The UNICEF 1998 Progress of the Nations report notes that many are immigrants but expresses particular concern about the growing numbers of young homeless people - there is no breakdown on Irish homelessness because reliable figures are not available, according to the support group Focus Ireland.

This year's report, which ranks nations according to their progress on many issues affecting the health, welfare and rights of children and women, highlights "the growing shame of homelessness in the richest countries where there is an ominous rise in the proportion of families and young people lacking permanent shelter".

Homeless young people are twice as likely as others to suffer from such chronic diseases as respiratory or ear infections, gastrointestinal disorders and sexually transmitted diseases including HIV/AIDS, the report says. According to Focus Ireland, "homelessness among young Irish people was not a problem 10 years ago". But current Irish figures merely relate to those in contact with health services, and are indicative of the failure to address the problem adequately, said Sr Stanislaus Kennedy, president of Focus - some 5,000 Irish people over 18 are estimated to be homeless but this figure is also not reliable, she said.

UNICEF estimates there are almost 300,000 homeless children in Germany and some 250,000 in Britain. "Within industrialised countries, there are increasing concentrations of wealth and want, as economies split well-educated, highly paid professionals and entrepreneurs, and the socially, politically and economically disenfranchised," it says.

In a commentary, Prof Philip Ashton of the European University Institute in Italy says the "demonization of caring government", that had been particularly pronounced in some countries including the UK and USA, leads to less public investment in social housing and support of local authorities and support organisations.

With more people having to rely on shrinking social welfare payments, in many countries "it is the young, once more, who are specifically targeted".

He cited Belgium, Finland, the Netherlands, Portugal and Spain, as countries which are being imaginative in seeking solutions on homelessness.

Ms Maura Quinn, executive director of UNICEF Ireland, said the findings indicate homelessness is not an insolvable problem, "if we have the political will to remove the strangling obstacles and to apply imaginative solutions".

In its evaluation of teenage births, Ireland is in 11th position in the European table with 14 births per 1,000 females between 15 and 19 years old, which is almost double the rate of France and Italy. The European average is 25.

Ireland is in joint 10th position globally among countries where 20 per cent or more women aged 15 or above smoke. The Irish figure is 28 per cent (the male equivalent is 29 per cent).

The report says many sexually active girls in the 15 to 19 age bracket do not use or have access to family planning services.