COPE Galway Urges Voters to Ensure Candidates Commit to a Fairer Society

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COPE Galway Urges Voters to Ensure Candidates Commit to a Fairer Society

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COPE Galway has written to Election 2020 candidates for Galway West and Galway East constituencies seeking their commitment to work to achieve a fairer and more equal society for all. The charity has prepared some key policy recommendations for all candidates running in Election 2020.

COPE Galway works with and supports people at risk of or experiencing homelessness, women and children experiencing or who have experienced domestic abuse and older people who experience isolation and disadvantage in our community at a local level across Galway.

Their key requests to Election 2020 candidates across Galway include:

Addressing Housing and Homelessness

  • A commitment to a constitutional referendum to enshrine the right to housing into the constitution to protect the right to decent, secure and affordable housing for all during the lifetime of the next Government
  • The construction of new social housing as the response to address the housing needs of those who cannot afford a home of their own and the discontinuation of the reliance on private rented housing for those in need of social housing
  • Protections for those who are living in private rented housing through the enforcement and further extension of rent pressure zones so that those who need to live in private rented accommodation have their tenancy rights fully protected and have affordable rents

Responding to Domestic Abuse

  • Ensure that women and their children are not forced to live in an unsafe or dangerous situation due to not having somewhere to go. COPE Galway recommends starting the process of ensuring at least one refuge place per 10,000 of population.

Supporting Older People

  • Making homecare available on a statutory basis as a viable alternative to older people having to enter residential nursing-home care. With legislation already on the statute books, a commitment to enacting this as part of the next programme for government is necessary.

“On Saturday, February 8th, General Election Day, people across Galway and throughout the country have an opportunity to vote for candidates offering real and constructive solutions to the range of challenges we as a community and society face in such areas as housing and homelessness, responding to domestic abuse and supporting older people to remain living in their own homes,” said Martin O’Connor of COPE Galway.

“We ask that people use their vote wisely to help achieve a more equal and fairer society where everyone is valued and no one is left behind.”

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Note to Editor:

Contact:  Martin O’Connor,  091 778 750.

COPE Galway is a local Galway Organisation whose vision is an “Improved Quality of Life in a Home of your Own” for people affected by homelessness, women and children experiencing domestic abuse, and older people.

Our services for people who are homeless worked with 1,406 people in 2018; there are currently over 10,000 people homeless and living in emergency accommodation across our country.

In 2018, COPE Galway worked with 457 women and their children in Galway who experienced domestic abuse; nationally 1,138 women and 1,667 children were provided with safe refuge in the same year.

We support over 700 older people each year, many living in isolation in our communities who are barely getting by and for whom our health and community services are so vital.

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