Ireland Yearly Meeting has issued a statement on homelessness to politicians North and South of the border calling for urgent action to be taken on the issue of homelessness, including the provision of good quality social housing.

The statement came about as a result of considerable discussion at Yearly Meeting (held in King’s Hospital, Dublin from 31^st March to 3^rd April 2016), which had been prompted by presentations from several homeless charities.

The full wording of the statement follows:

The Religious Society of Friends in Ireland (Quakers), gathered at its annual meeting, wishes to express its serious concern about the increasing numbers of homeless individuals and families.

In the past Quakers recognised the importance of good quality social housing, and today we believe a home is a fundamental human right.  In this context homelessness is frequently the manifestation of dysfunctional housing provision and weakness of effective policy and regulation.  We call on the authorities in both jurisdictions of Ireland to take urgent action to address the underlying structural causes of homelessness, including –

• The appropriate provision of social housing
• Strengthening the rights of tenants in the private rented sector
• Removing the obstacles to making vacant properties available for occupation.

“A key message for Quakers is the importance of housing as a home, providing a secure place in which to thrive, not merely an individual financial investment.”

(Paula Harvey, Quaker Housing Trust UK)

The following letter has also been sent to the editors of the national daily papers both sides of the border:

Dear [Editors Name]

The Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) in Ireland wishes to express its serious concern about the increasing number of homeless individuals and families both south and north of the border.

At our recent Yearly Meeting in Dublin, we heard presentations from people engaged in several different homeless charities.

In the past Quakers recognised the importance of good quality social housing and today we believe a home is a fundamental human right.  In this context homelessness is frequently the manifestation of dysfunctional housing provision and weakness of effective policy and regulation.

We therefore call on the authorities in both jurisdictions of Ireland to take urgent action to address the underlying structural causes of homelessness, including the appropriate provision of social housing; strengthening the rights of tenants in the private rented sector; and removing the obstacles to making vacant properties available for occupation.

Yours sincerely,

Daniel H Sinton,

Clerk of Ireland Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) in Ireland

This letter was published in The Belfast Telegraph.

EcoQuakers and Dublin Monthly Meeting have signed an Inter-Faith Climate Change Statement that has also been signed by many of the world’s religious leaders.

The statement will be handed over to the President of the United Nations General Assembly at a special faith-based ceremony in New York on 18^th April 2016.

The Irish Council of Churches and the World Council of Churches have also signed the statement as have religious leaders and individuals of all faiths around the globe.

The purpose of the statement is to follow up on the Paris Agreement.  Right now the agreement is just words on paper. In order to make the world a better, safer place for ourselves and for future generations, it is necessary for world leaders to start taking action – to commit to 1.5°C limit of warming to protect the vulnerable.

Individuals can sign the statement too (until 17^th April) here >> http://www.interfaithstatement2016.org/.

Six Key Points within the Interfaith Climate Change Statement:

1. Urge governments to rapidly sign, ratify and implement the Paris Agreement, and to increase pledges to reduce emissions in line with keeping the global temperature rise to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels;
2. Insist on rapid emissions reduction and peaking by 2020, in order to keep the 1.5C goal within reach;
3. Strongly advocate for greater flows of finance, especially for adaptation and loss and damage;
4. Urge the swift phase out of all fossil fuel subsidies and a transition to 100% renewable energy by 2050;
5. Encourage faith communities to reduce emissions in their homes, workplaces and centres of worship and to support and stand in solidarity with communities already impacted by climate change; and
6. Call for fossil fuel divestment and reinvestment in renewables and low carbon solutions, including within our own communities, and/or by engaging companies on climate change.

Quaker Meetings in Ireland are set to become “as sustainable as possible”, following a resolution made by Ireland Yearly Meeting (IYM) on 3^rd April 2016.

Each Meeting is asked to develop a sustainability plan before January 2017, taking into consideration factors such as accessibility by public transport, energy efficiency, use of Fairtrade tea and coffee and use of organic and locally sourced food, when possible (EcoQuakers are drawing up a template plan to help Meetings in this process).

IYM is asked to take the same factors into account when planning the next Yearly Meeting.

A commitment was also made to develop an investment strategy by January 2017 to ethically invest all funds* within Yearly Meeting in sustainable and peaceful companies, and to divest from destructive industries, including fossil fuels.

These two commitments were made following the call to action on sustainability that came from the Friends World Committee for Consultation’s Plenary in Peru in January 2016, urging the worldwide Quaker community to re-double its efforts in relation to sustainability.

*this includes all funds invested for growth or income by Yearly Meeting, Quarterly Meetings, Monthly Meetings and Preparative Meetings

Minute 40 of Ireland Yearly Meeting 2016:

Call to action on Sustainability from Friends World Committee for Consultation (FWCC) Plenary in Peru Claire Conboy-Stephenson has read the minute agreed at the FWCC Plenary in Peru urging the worldwide Quaker community to re-double its efforts in relation to sustainability. It calls on Yearly Meetings to initiate at least two concrete actions on sustainability by January 2017.

The Special Interest Group facilitated by Eco-Quakers Ireland has reflected on this and has proposed a number of actions. We agree to the following two actions:

1.To commit to making all the Meetings within Ireland Yearly Meeting as sustainable as possible, considering such factors as accessibility by public transport, energy efficiency, use of Fairtrade tea and coffee and use of organic and locally sourced food when possible. We ask Meetings to develop a sustainability plan, no matter how simple, before January 2017. We ask Ireland Yearly Meeting to take its sustainability plan into consideration when planning for its next Yearly Meeting.

2.To follow in the steps of FWCC by developing an investment strategy, by January 2017, to ethically invest all the funds within the Yearly Meeting in sustainable and peaceful companies, and divest from destructive industries, including fossil fuels.

We also ask all Meetings to consider how truth prospers with regard to sustainability, taking care to relate this to all of our testimonies – peace, simplicity, truth and equality.

Newtown Junior School in Waterford (Ireland’s only Quaker national school) has chosen to mark Ireland 2016 by creating an Indoor Garden of Peace.

Artist Ciara Harrison, a Rathfarnham Quaker and a past pupil of Newtown Secondary School, came up with the idea for the collaborative and educational art project and helped the children bring the peace garden to life.

“As a national school, Newtown Junior School was required to commemorate the anniversary of the 1916 Rising,” said Ciara, “But, as a Quaker school, it was important for them to respect the Quaker ethos of peace, pacificity and non-violence.

“We took on the approach of looking to the future – to the next 100 years – to promote a world of peace. We decided to use the symbol of a white poppy to do this.

“The initiative of the white poppy began in Britain in 1933 by a women’s pacifist group as a symbol of peace and non-violence. This symbol is widely used among Quakers in Britain and also in Ireland.

“We were inspired by this group and decided that we would produce a garden of peace where each pupil would produce a poppy (using recycled white fabric) that would then be installed in an area of the school, creating an Indoor Garden of Peace that would invite visitors, staff and pupils to walk among it and, at the end of the exhibition, to take a poppy of peace home with them.”

Buying Fairtrade products makes a huge difference to the lives of farmers and producers, a banana farmer from the Dominican Republic told  Rathfarnham Friends when she visited their Meeting on 6th March.

Maria Genao, who undertook a speaking tour of Ireland to mark Fairtrade Fortnight, said that the impact that Fairtrade had on the lives of small producers were many. “It ensures our work as producers by protecting the market throughout the year, by helping us in many ways to keep growing and by being there through tough times when we are in need,” she said.

Maria, who works on her mother’s 3.5 hectare farm, said that the premium Fairtrade farmers received gave them stability during fluctuations in the market, like when there was no rain for 18 months, which drastically impacted the amount of bananas produced. It also enabled communities to put money into health and education and allowed farmers to live with dignity.

Maria has also set up a handcraft business, which sees local women and young people making baskets and table cloths from banana fibres. She hopes to find an export market for these items in the near future and to explore the possibilities of making other products from banana fibres.

Rathfarnham Friends were pleased to be joined by Friends from other Meetings – adults and children – to hear their special speaker.

The twelve children present were interested to hear that Maria and her family eat bananas at every meal and that, as well as eating ripe yellow bananas and banana pancakes, they cook green bananas, which they mash like mashed potatoes.

Rathfarnham Meeting made a commitment some years ago to only buying Fairtrade tea and coffee. To find out more about Fairtrade, see www.fairtrade.ie.