Joe O’Connor, IMPACT organiser with the Boards & Voluntary agencies branch, addressed last night’s emergency forum on homelessness. He said we should no longer be talking about whether Government intervention is necessary in the private rental market, but that the discussion should now be about how the Government should intervene in that market.

The forum was convened by the Minister of Environment, Community & Local Government, Alan Kelly TD, and took place in the Customs House, Dublin. Joe added that all the economic indicators suggest that rental prices are almost certain to continue to rise in the short-term without some form of corrective action.

The family of an IMPACT member and activist, Mary Gorman, are calling on the Irish public to sign a petition to get her urgent medical treatment.

Mary is from Co. Laois and worked as a physiotherapy manager until she was forced to retire due to ill-health. She was diagnosed with an ultra-rare and life-threatening blood disorder called Paroxysmal Nocturnal Haemoglobinuria (PNH) in October 2012. Without treatment, the disorder can shorten life expectancy to between five and ten years. Since her diagnosis, Mary has suffered from acute kidney damage.