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Chief Executive Officer's Message
Tony Geoghegan
Merchants Quay Ireland has seen many changes in recent times, both with the nature of problem drug use and homelessness and within our own services. In recent years, we have seen a shift in the profile of our service users with many people presenting with a wide range of complex needs including mental health problems, poly-drug use and alcohol use. As a result, in 2001 we brought our drugs and homeless services together under one management structure to allow us to provide more coherent responses to the issues.
Problem drug use and homelessness continue to devastate many thousands of people across the country every year however we are now much better equipped to address these problems. We are able to work with between two and three hundred homeless people and drug users every day. The services we provide for homeless people include meals, primary healthcare, counselling, crisis support, advice and information, settlement services and transitional housing. For drug users we offer needle exchange and health promotion services, structured day programmes, family support services, group and individual counselling, a range of treatment options, two residential drug-free treatment programmes and aftercare services. Our experience is that where resources have been invested and where services have been established, people's lives have been transformed. Nonetheless there are still important groups who have not benefited from the increased availability of services over the past number of years. Single homeless men and homeless drug users have been left behind. We need to provide more housing, more outreach support and more drug treatment services.
It is clear that with the combined action of the voluntary sector, the government agencies and the wider community, the problem of homelessness can be eliminated by 2010. It is also clear that where sufficient resources are put in place the harm caused by drug use can be kept to a minimum and that with time and with a wide range of treatment options available, huge numbers can be helped to become drug-free. It can be done, but it is about resources. I call on the Government, the Business Community and the wider public to do everything possible to make it happen.
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