TV3 INVESTIGATES THE PLIGHT OF THE HOMELESS IN CORK IN A SERIES OF NEWS FEATURES

TV3 INVESTIGATES THE PLIGHT OF THE HOMELESS IN CORK IN A SERIES OF NEWS FEATURES

 TV3's Southern Correspondent, Paul Byrne has investigated a number of homeless cases in Cork this week and discovered how people with ordinary lives and good jobs have very easily slipped through the cracks.

There are 3 features in total airing next week during TV3 News at 5.30, which will highlight the rapid growth of homelessness in Ireland today.

The first case tells the story of Martin O'Brien. Martin lived in Canada for a number of years and returned home to his native Cork. He worked as a Hotel Manager and lost his job. As a result, his marriage collapsed. Martin has been living on the streets since 2006 and finds every day a struggle.

Featured in the second case is James, who is also from Cork. James came from a broken home and was in trouble since he was a child. He ran away from home at the extremely young age of five. As a result of this, James suffers severely from mental health issues and has tried to take his own life on numerous occasions.

Bernadette, mother of five children, who is originally from Limerick, worked in a pharmaceutical company for over twenty years and was a legal secretary with a leading firm of solicitors for a number of years. Unfortunately, Bernadette's marriage failed and she ended up living on the streets and also became an alcoholic.

The Simon Community in Cork is a charitable organisation and houses people who are living on the streets. It costs two million Euro a year to run. All of the people features in these reports say the Simon Community has helped them greatly. The Simon Community employees stress that they are expecting a massive increase of people availing of their services because of the downturn in the economy and people losing their homes due to not being able to afford their mortgages.

Commenting on these features, TV3's Southern Correspondent, Paul Byrne said:  "While I knew that there was a serious homeless situation in the country, our nights on the streets really brought it home to me. It also goes to show that you never know what type of person is homeless. I think people's perceptions in relation to the homeless need to change because I now release that it could easily happen to me or a member of my family, or a member of anyone's family for that matter. Having spoken to these people, they do feel that that they are looked down on and they say that we're not bums, we're not down-and-outs or Winos, they are just unfortunate people who got into financial difficulty and were often overlooked.  I‘ll think differently every time I see a homeless person from now on."

Tune into TV3 News at 5:30 on Monday 8th December, Tuesday 9th December and Wednesday 10th December 2008. 

Images are available on request. 

For further information:

TV3 Press Office - publicity@tv3.ie

Maureen Catterson - 087 7800 737

www.tv3.ie