One of the country’s leading priest Fr Peter McVerry has criticised the current state of many hostel accommodations currently being offered to the nations homeless.
Fr McVerry has said the current hostels being provided are so bad people would be better off sleeping rough. Fr McVerry claimed that some of the emergency hostels are a disgrace and are extremely intimidating places for many who are placed there.
Fr McVerry made his comments whilst whilst addressing a crowd at the RENUA Ireland think-in, Fr McVerry claimed that the hostel are being poorly ran and that many people currently in recovery from drug addiction were being placed in rooms with active drug users.
Fr McVerry told conference: “Drugs are being used in the middle of the night, drugs are being offered to people. You sleep with your runners under the pillow, because they won’t be there in the morning. “So they really are quite intimidating places, and for some people, such as people who are drug-free, people in recovery or young vulnerable people, I tell them not to go in.
He added: “It is safer sleeping rough than it is in some of those hostels.”