A NORTHSIDE woman has written a song she hopes will raise funds for four charities working to alleviate the homelessness crisis.
Mother-of-five Deirdre Flynn, who lives in Rush, wrote the lyrics to ‘A Place Called Home’ last October. The song is based on Deirdre’s experiences working as a volunteer with Focus Ireland.
Stephen Leeson (ex-Dublin City Ramblers), Shay Kavanagh (ex-Dublin City Ramblers, and currently with Dublin Legends), David Shakespeare (a former member of Juno) and Mick McGuire ( from Invincibles) recorded the song. Stephen Leeson sings ‘No Place Like Home’ while Skim Music provided the melody.
Last year Deirdre graduated from All Hallows with a BA Hons in Adult Education and Facilitation, and is now a Trainee Adult Ed Teacher with Marino College on Griffith Avenue.
Through the song, she is hoping to raise awareness of the homelessness crisis ahead of the general election on February 26.
“Funds raised will be split between four charities working with the homeless: Focus Ireland, Simon, the Peter McVerry Trust and St Vincent de Paul,” she told Northside People.
“There is a very good team behind the song and we’re hoping it will raise awareness in time for the election, and wake people up to the seriousness of the homelessness situation.
“If this crisis is not sorted out now it will become our children and our grandchildren’s problem.”
Deirdre regularly visits secondary schools where she gives talks to second and third year students on the homelessness issue, and encourages them to raise funds and awareness among their peers of the current situation.
“Under Article 25 of UN Convention of Human Rights people are entitled to a decent standard of living and this includes a home,” she said.
“This needs to be included in the Irish Constitution.”
With the imminent arrival of modular homes in certain areas, Deirdre believes that this is only a temporary situation to a permanent problem.
“It’s not the answer,” she adds.
“With regards to social housing, I think it’s a shame that there are so many unemployed builders on the dole.
“They could be working building the social housing that is badly needed, giving them the employment that they deserve, and people housing that should be a human right.
“We will be aiming to get this message out through the song.”
Although Deirdre is relatively new to songwriting (this is only her second one to pen), she had success last year when she wrote a track called ‘A Little Boy’s Dream’ to celebrate Dublin’s appearance in the All-Ireland Final.
That song, which took her two hours to write, received a lot of airplay and was recorded to raise funds for the Make-A-Wish foundation.
•’No Place Like Home’ is available to download on CD Baby and will gradually stream onto other music downloads sites such as ITunes and Spotify. You can also log on to the charities‘ website to donate.