Mercy Sisters in Cork Street Dublin have a long history of being close to women, children and families struggling with difficulties. Situated in the Liberties, the heart of old Dublin, the local area has been characterised by a strong community spirit, hardworking people, and little of the national resources or development. Through schools, a women’s refuge, a family centre, daily meals, the Sisters and their co-workers provided support to many generations of local people over the decades. In 2000, as a millennium project, the Mercy Sisters handed over the Convent and complex to a new Social Housing Group – Sophia – to provide ‘accommodation with comfort’ for homeless and vulnerable people. Today, there are 52 beautiful units there, catering for single women, single men, single mothers, families – all of whom are homeless and have ‘special needs’. Six Sisters are scattered throughout the complex, finding themselves being friends and neighbours with people who get a hard deal in life.
Right in the middle of that venture, a new project – Mercy Law Resource Centre – was set up in 2009 by Mercy Sisters and located in the old convent. This Centre (MLRC) provides a free, quality and holistic legal service to people who are homeless or at risk of homelessness. It is incorporated as a not-for-profit Company with charitable status. It received Independent Law Centre status from the Law Society of Ireland and commenced practice under the Law Society in September 2009. Sr. Michele O’Kelly, herself a solicitor, guided its development through all the initial stages and put it on a strong foundation during the first year. At the moment it has one full time solicitor and a part time solicitor (both excellent lay women), together with a legal secretary and an administrator (Sr. Caitríona O’Hara) as the regular staff.
In its first year the Centre has been very busy, indicating the great need for this service. Many queries and contacts are dealt with on a daily basis. Free Legal Advice Clinics have been run on a weekly basis in hostels for the homeless in the Dublin 8 area. The issues of concern to homeless people are many, but accommodation and housing difficulties are the most dominant. Legal help (advice, assistance and court representation) is given in areas like eviction, rent problems, housing waiting lists, and social welfare etc. The people who need this service constantly live in uncertainty, isolation, anxiety and little hope, as well as crippling poverty.
MLRC collaborates with other Agencies like Focus and Crosscare in seeking out those who might benefit from legal help. It seeks to provide services in a professional, compassionate and supportive manner, respecting the dignity of each person. To give concrete expression to this caring aspect a group of volunteers called ‘Befrienders’ has been formed. These volunteers are trained and Garda vetted, and they provide personal support and encouragement on non-legal aspects to clients. This helps to make the service user-friendly and easy to access.
The Centre has also addressed Policy issues relevant to homelessness in the public domain, and has engaged with other agencies working in the same field. Policy papers have been produced on topics such as Housing available to NAMA, and on the Criminal Justice Bill relating to begging. These papers are sent to the relevant public bodies, to politicians and are published where possible. Other issues being looked at are Housing Law, Anti-social Behaviour Strategies and related topics. MLRC aims to use the law to advocate effectively on behalf of homeless people and to enable them to assert their rights and seek justice.
In our Chapter Statement (2006) we proclaimed that we would
‘…commit our lives and resources to the alleviation of extreme poverty in all its forms, acting collaboratively at local and global levels’.
In the Celtic Tiger years it was difficult to associate ‘extreme poverty’ with Ireland. However, there is a ‘hidden Ireland’ of people, young and old, who shelter in doorways, frequent ‘penny dinners’, go from hostel to hostel, hang out of B&B’s and who are in dire need – effectively in extreme poverty. The down-turn in the economic situation of many (including children and teenagers) has massively increased the size of that ‘hidden Ireland’. The people who avail of MLRC services are often so dispirited and disempowered that they find it difficult to access help and many have disability road blocks. These are undoubtedly the people who qualify for the direction chosen in our Chapter statement. MLRC is a ‘daughter’ of Catherine’s House of Mercy, a project through which the right to shelter, safety, and the means to grow in peace as human beings is being defended and vindicated.
