“I remember visiting my grandparents’ house. My grandfather was a retired farmer. Going to the creamery with a small few cows, that kind of thing. In the evenings himself and my grandmother would sit in front of the fire, the clock ticking. Very quiet.
Looking into the flames is something people have been doing forever; it really connects you to the past. Looking into the flames of the fire in my own home now, I always think about that calm, meditative, warm space, the ticking of the clock, the time passing by and the sense of eternity.
Homes are full of the busyness of life. But it's still the place where you can be yourself, where you can get that sense of calm. Where you can retreat from the world. Where you can feel okay.
But it probably wasn’t like that at all for many people who’ve become homeless. You can’t feel okay if you’re feeling that you’re being judged, looked down on, disrespected.
What do you do without that place to go back to? That warm, safe place where you can just be yourself and get away from the hassles of the world, and feel and be, rather than do.
Homeless people are sometimes seen as different, and certainly you’ll find a lot of people who are homeless are struggling with drinking and drugs. But I think I would be if I was homeless. To be honest, it's a miserable bloody existence.
We’re trying to help homeless people replace, or address or find again that gap of not having a warm and safe place to retreat to, that safe space where you can be yourself, where you’re not judged.
We start with that human connection. Respect, acceptance and taking people where they're at is the first step in starting to build up a sense of trust.
We’re often working with people who never had a home. The connection between them and our support staff is crucial to developing that sense of trust so they can become more independent, be part of their own communities.
I lived and worked in inner city Dublin for years. I saw really strong communities develop, communities of working-class people, tremendous social solidarity. That appears to be disappearing. There isn't as much chatting to each other as there used to be.
But I don't think that we've lost it. I think it's ingrained in people. But we've become more divided as a society.
And when you look at all the people who support South East Simon, all the people who volunteer, who care deeply about the issues, the people who take a stand and the people who want to work in the sector, are all hugely positive. So I don't think it's gone away.
In Ireland we have great fondness for throwing institutions at social problems, whether they’re mother and baby homes, family hubs or homeless shelters. These kinds of services should only be for the very short term. It's really about letting people live their own lives in their own places, where they can feel warm and safe, but also have the support available to them that they can draw on.
People here care a lot more about homelessness than in other countries. It’s at the top of the political agenda. People are very concerned. I think it's very different to the UK, where they have a much more punitive approach.
Years ago when people were looked down on, Simon said no, these are people who we must support. They have a right to the same home and the same chances in life as everybody else, and we started putting that into action. Nobody else wanted to do it.
Simon took a stand regarding homeless people when it was neither popular nor seen as worthwhile. Simon is social solidarity in action. Simon is that sense of community.
It’s in the name, the Simon Community."