Sir, - Two headlines in your editions of May 31st had a bearing on our work in TRUST: "Minister must help the professionals to combat smoking" and "Homeless people suffer higher drug abuse level".
At a time when as yet no accurate data is available on the numbers of recent drug-related deaths and where an increasing number of people known to our service have died on the streets without publicity, we are challenged again to look at the amount of resources available for some projects seen as useful and progressive while the most basic services are denied to many.
Two men called to us on the morning of May 16th for the first time. Both were later escorted in a taxi to hospital. One died 36 hours later, the other man is still hospitalised. Both slept out for long periods and one got an emergency bed from time to time.
Anyone working on the ground needs no more research to know that homelessness is a complex problem and those who are addicted are more likely to be in that number. Drugs, including cigarettes and alcohol, ease the pain of living in today's world. Basic services for this group of people are now almost non-existent. Some services have been shut down recently without discussion or consultation with service providers. Some that traditionally had spaces for such people now feel the need to work with those likely to resettle, in order to avail of funding. What is more basic than washing facilities, clothes, food and a bed? Without these, counselling, research, outreach, data collection, seminars etc. are of questionable use to the people I refer to.
Can we now envisage people who are homeless being denied a service because they smoke? Is smoking any more dangerous than the massive doses of prescribed drugs given to people on a daily basis to ease the pain of living - living in the open and likely to die unnoticed in the open if the present trend continues. - Yours, etc.,
Alice Leahy RGN RM FFN RCSI (Hon), Director and Co-Founder, TRUST, Bride Road, Dublin 8.