AN OUTSIDER’S VIEW
Hugh Kennedy is a Derry City Ranger working with the City Centre Initiative. The Rangers are the eyes, ears and problem solvers of the city. Before this, Hugh worked in the fire department for 30 years. So if anyone knows Derry, it’s Hugh. He says, ‘the need in this city is exceptional.’ He tells stories of Derry in the 1980s and 1990s, where people would at best ignore and at worst attack the city’s street drinkers. He recalls how life in the city centre was marked by tensions between tourists, shopkeepers, shoppers and drinkers. Hugh says, ‘Foyle Haven isn’t an easy organisation to support, or to be seen to support - unless you’ve seen the streets.’ He says that ‘Foyle Haven has led to a massive improvement in the city centre. The changes I’ve seen have been dramatic.’ One or two street drinkers, well-known local characters, still drink in the city centre. But mostly, drinkers now prefer to congregate near Foyle Haven, in a car park, or by the bridges. Hugh compares this to going out for a swim - ‘you feel much more comfortable when you know there is a lifebelt nearby.’ Of course, not everybody is happy. Some traders near Foyle Haven complain about the number of street drinkers who now congregate in their area, with all the commotion this sometimes entails. But others understand that projects like Foyle Haven must take place in somebody’s back yard. And most are delighted with the transformation that has taken place in the city. For example, there is a new Public Realm Scheme at Derry’s Guildhall, and initially there was concern that it would be overtaken by street drinkers. But, because the drinkers are now drawn to the safety and warmth of Foyle Haven, this has not happened. Hugh feels that there is a growing need for services like Foyle Haven. This is partly because of the growth in drinking amongst teenagers - Hugh calls them ‘trainee street drinkers,’ not yet alcoholics, but on their way. And partly because of changes in society. Where once families and the community played a large role in reaching out to street drinkers, increasingly this job is now left up to organisations such as Foyle Haven.
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THE MERGER WITH DEPAUL IRELAND
THE HISTORY OF FOYLE HAVEN
Foyle Haven’s merger in March 2011 with Depaul Ireland, which specialises in work with street drinkers in Dublin and Belfast, is a result of a meeting of minds at Derry’s City Hotel. Sister Catherine describes meeting a delegation from Depaul Ireland - Kerry Anthony, CEO, Aoife Watters, Director of Finance and Board Member, Sister Nuala Kelly - at a conference about the future of the Third Sector in 2010. It wasn’t long before Catherine realised that Foyle Haven and Depaul Ireland shared a similar passion for working with street drinkers with complex needs. Catherine invited Kerry and Sister Nuala to visit the next month, and one coffee turned into many as they talked for hours in the City Hotel, each identifying with the ethos, values and work of the other. With the economic turmoil of the last few years, the voluntary and community sector is experiencing serious challenges. Funding is more difficult to access, standalone projects are on increasingly insecure ground and organisations are having to think more about how they might work together. Catherine knew that with the Big Lottery Fund award in 2009, and the doubling of its staff, Foyle Haven was growing fast and needed to professionalise even further. After visiting Depaul’s Stella Maris project in Belfast, a wet hostel for street drinkers, she became convinced that Depaul Ireland was an organisation that Foyle Haven could work well with. In Catherine’s words, ‘I trusted that the street drinkers, who were our priority, would also be the people who are Depaul’s priority.’ Foyle Haven became part of Depaul Ireland on 31st March 2011. This has been welcomed within the wider sector. Due to the foresight of Sister Catherine and the Board of Foyle Haven the future of the Service is secure and the commitment to some of the most vulnerable within Derry remains.