Hundreds of people across the country slept out in the cold last night in support of Focus Ireland’s annual Shine-A-Light sleep-out.
The homeless charity hopes to raise €1.4 million this year and at the time of writing just under €885,000 had been raised.
Over 100 different sleep-out events were held right across the country and Newstalk reporter Josh Crosbie spoke to some of those taking part to learn more about why the campaign has become so important for the country’s homeless population.
He began by speaking to Focus Ireland CEO Pat Dennigan at an event at the TU Dublin campus in Grangegorman in Dublin.
“We're coming into an election season and we have very specific asks when it comes to trying to deal with the homeless crisis in this country,” he said.
“For the calendar year 2023, 18,000 people engaged with us – that was up from 16,000 the year before.
“One of our premier services is the coffee shop in Temple Bar in Eustace Street. The coffee shop has seen more people in the first nine months of 2024 than they did in the full year last year.”
James Flanagan is a @FocusIreland LEAP Ambassador and knows first-hand the impact the service can have. Coming up on @bobbykerr shortly. pic.twitter.com/ZSLRyZkROK
— Josh Crosbie (@JoshCrosbie3) October 12, 2024
People join Focus Ireland's Shine-A-Light sleepout in Dublin.Josh also spoke to 20-year-old James Flanagan who told him that Focus Ireland changed his life by getting himself and his mother off the streets and into a home when he was just four years old.
“We were sleeping in and out of cars, we were sleeping in hostels and we were sometimes sleeping out on the street,” he said.
“It was a very hard time, but thanks to Focus Ireland, they gave me a house at the age of four.
“Then I could actually build my foundation with my mother, because obviously being so young, you don't know the environment around you.”
'Changed my life'
James said Focus Ireland “changed my life not just by giving me a foundation, but by giving me support”.
He said keyworkers helped him build the skills he needed to get into the workforce – with further education courses, training as a welder and helping him access the skills he needed to become a supervisor at Intel.
The 20-year-old is now focused on building out his career further, with ambitions to become an entrepreneur – and help others who are facing homelessness.
Hundreds of people are sleeping out tonight for #ShineALight.
CEO of @FocusIreland, Pat Dennigan is appealing to people to donate to help end the homelessness crisis. https://t.co/6wiDFMAm6a@NewstalkFM pic.twitter.com/QfM1MLpSIy
— Josh Crosbie (@JoshCrosbie3) October 11, 2024
Josh also spoke to people sleeping out at Leinster Cricket Club to hear how they dealt with what became a bitterly cold night.
“The first year I did this, it was dry until about 1am in the morning and then it absolutely lashed all night so that gave us the real experience,” Theresa O’Carroll told Josh.
That was actually probably something that made me do it year-on-year because it really hits you that, you know, we were frozen wet and we went home and had a shower and got into bed and you're thinking, you know, people that are living out rough, what do they do for the rest of the day?
“They're hanging around places – hanging around town, hanging around shops; they've nowhere to go in and, you know, get warm, dry clothes or anything.”
'How do people do this?'
Another woman at the cricket club told Josh that the sleepout showed her just how “brutal” it can be to be stuck out in the cold.
“I got up there once or twice in the night, but I just got this morning and you can feel the dew on the ground and the dampness,” she said.
“It's like, how do people do this every night?
People join Focus Ireland's Shine-A-Light sleepout in Dublin.“It's just impossible to even comprehend; it's brutal – and this is a good night.
“You know, if it's freezing cold, snow and raining, I don't know how people do it. It really does make you think.”
You can donate to the Focus Ireland Shine-A-Light appeal, sponsored by Bord Gáis Energy, here.
You can listen back to the full report from Josh Crosbie here:
