Alice Leahy Trust News and Press, Press Releases

Government cutbacks which attack the most vulnerable must be challenged as serious abuses of their human rights

The recent proposal by the government to withdraw medical cards from people over 70 must be seen as a very serious attempt to abuse and undermine the human rights of one of the most vulnerable groups in our society, Alice Leahy, TRUST and Member of the Irish Human Rights Commission said today (TUES., 21 October, 2008). Calling for a major focus on the human rights of the most vulnerable during the current economic downturn Alice Leahy said that “any complacency on the part of agencies involved in human rights in Ireland, which seem to focus exclusively on political and civil rights, while ignoring the governments responsibility to protect our economic and social rights can, as we have seen in recent days, put the most vulnerable at grave risk.”

“The incomprehension by people from all walks of life, and in every political party, at the attempt by the government to remove medical cards from people over seventy is a reflection that we perceive access to adequate to health care as a basic right. It is rightly unthinkable that we would consciously put lives at risk to save money. There is disbelief in equal measure that anyone would put at risk the decent education services of the next generation by increasing class sizes, because we see that as a very fundamental right as well,” Alice Leahy said.

“This budget represents one of the most serious attacks on the basic rights of the most vulnerable in recent times and it must be seen in those terms. Human rights are not just about political and civil rights and all agencies, especially government and state agencies, far from attacking the fundament rights of the elderly and primary school students, must make a virtue out of protecting and vindicating those rights. All human rights agencies and bodies must become involved in efforts to ensure that happens. Indeed, it is no exaggeration to say that removal of medical cards from people who cannot afford adequate health care is not only short sighted but will put lives at risk, and balancing the books is surely not worth the death of a single elderly person or the denial of one child to a decent education,” Alice Leahy said.

Alice Leahy Trust News and Press, Press Releases

Government’s new Homeless Strategy a PR exercise to cover-up a national scandal

Alice Leahy, Director and Co-Founder of TRUST today described the government new homeless strategy as “a PR exercise designed to cover up a national scandal that cannot succeed because of cutbacks already implemented in support services for people who are homeless.”
Describing the strategy as a worrying development because it seems to imply action will be taken when there is absolutely no possibility of that Alice Leahy said “because the strategy fails to acknowledge the reality confronting people who are homeless on the streets today when they try to access services, a situation made much worse because of cutbacks.”

“People find themselves homeless on the streets because they have problems that prevent them from fitting in, such as drug and alcohol addiction, mental health issues and family breakdown. Therefore, at a time when a number of cutbacks in support services for these people have already been implemented by the HSE, which effectively prevent homeless people from getting back into society, talk of ending homelessness anytime soon is absurd,” Alice Leahy said.

The use of the Vision in this strategy may sound well, but no one should be in any doubt that emergency accommodation is already in short supply because of cutbacks Alice Leahy said. “And given current policy it will be even more necessary because the causes of homelessness, which the Minister himself described as “poverty, mental ill health, addiction and family issues,” have been made much worse by recent cutbacks, especially by the HSE. In other words, government cutbacks policy is actually making homelessness worse. Indeed, this strategy appears to us as nothing less than a smokescreen to justify even further cutbacks as there is a serious shortage of emergency accommodation, which cutbacks will make more urgently necessary,” Alice Leahy said.