More than 700 former Army personnel have stayed in residential homes provided by a support organisation over the last 12 years.
The Organisation of National Ex-Servicemen and Women (Óglaigh Náisiúnta na hÉireann) provides accommodation to homeless, elderly or disabled former members of the Irish Defence Forces along with other services that may be required.
The organisation, also known as One, has residential centres in Dublin, Letterkenny and Athlone as well as support centres in Dundalk and Limerick.
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar told the Dáil on Wednesday he accepted many families of Defence Forces employees were struggling and the question was what the Government was doing about it.
Mr Varadkar was replying to Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin who said there were harrowing stories of families of Defence Forces employees unable to make ends meet on a daily basis.
Mr Martin said some Defence Forces families had said they would never own a house, afford a holiday or send their children to college. There were daily worries about how families would be fed, he added.
“First of all, wages are rising again and pay restoration is occurring in the public service,” Mr Varadkar said.
The Taoiseach added personal taxation and the cost of living were being reduced, while rent controls and other measures had been introduced.
Fundraiser
One chief executive Ollie O’Connor outlined the scale of the problem at a fundraiser for former members of the Defence Forces at Merrion Square in Dublin on Wednesday.
“At any given time we’ve between 40 to 44 residents in our three homes nationwide. There was actually over 700 in our residential homes over the last 12 years. “People can drop into our support centres any time. We hope in the next few months to open another eight support centres in various barracks around the country.”
“They find themselves homeless for the same reason as anyone else would. There are various reasons, it could be a social problem, a relationship break-up or it could be because of the nature of the job, they became institutionalised and they find it difficult to live independently outside of the institution,” he said.
“They’re very slow to come forward when they have a problem because they’re very proud. It’s an issue of pride. They have served all over the world, they’ve done great things and very brave things and they will look after everybody except themselves.”
Mr O’Connor added “life continues as normal” for most who leave the Defence Forces but for some “adjustment to civilian life has proven problematic”.
“It is a great tragedy but some of our former members end up homeless and are continuing victims of the present homelessness crisis,” he said.
“The funds raised by the appeal enable us to help former colleagues at a challenging time in their lives. Many of these people gave outstanding service to the State and to the United Nations and for one reason or another have fallen on hard times since leaving the service.”
Minister of State with special responsibility for defence Paul Kehoe said the work the organisation undertakes “makes a very real difference to the lives of many former members of the Irish Defence Forces”.
“Since its establishment in the early 1950s, the services provided by One have been very much in demand,” Mr Kehoe said.
“One dedicates itself to looking after the needs and welfare of ex-service personnel and in particular, to providing practical support for those in need of accommodation.”
Defence Forces chief of staff, Vice-Admiral Mark Mellett said One played an important role in providing comradeship as former servicemen who had served together were often reunited at weekly coffee meetings.
