Sir, – I read in The Irish Times that Owen Keegan, a senior official with Dublin City Council, has commented that the accommodation provided at Apollo House for the homeless is "substandard" ("Apollo House accommodation 'substandard', says council chief executive", December 28th).
Substandard to what exactly? Sleeping outside in doorways and alleys in sub-zero temperatures in winter? Or substandard in comparison to a poor-quality bedsit in the city?
The folly and ridiculousness of Mr Keegan’s statement are absolutely astounding and display a detachment from reality that allows the current epidemic of homelessness to continue unabated. It is apparently far easier for Mr Keegan to criticise those making an effort than to laud their altruism. – Yours, etc,
ALLAN SWEENEY,
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Rathfarnham, Dublin 14.
Sir, – I take issue with the Dublin City Council chief executive’s comment that “Irish people are suckers for celebrity endorsement”, a remark he made in relation to the vast public support for the Home Sweet Home initiative at Apollo House.
Mr Keegan and his executive have failed to house adequately the homeless of Dublin. When people, such as those involved in the Home Sweet Home project, take the initiative to provide 40 homeless people with secure accommodation, he denigrates not alone the initiators of the project and the homeless involved, but also all the Dublin public who support this project, as if this initiative would not have happened without “celebrity endorsement”.
Obviously Mr Keegan is feeling very sore when the vast majority of the Apollo residents opted for what he calls “substandard accommodation” and rejected Dublin City Council’s belated emergency dormitory-style accommodation.
The Dublin public who support the Apollo House initiative are not “fools or easily deceived”, a dictionary explanation of “suckers”, and we applaud the Dublin activists who, with the support of people from all walks of life, including artists, have provided not only a home for the Dublin homeless but also a civic example to the Irish public of when and how to act when civic authorities fail in their duty to look after the most vulnerable in our society. – Yours, etc,
BRENDAN BUTLER,
Malahide,
Co Dublin.