The plight of elderly Irish emigrants sleeping rough in London and other cities has been recognised by Meath County Council, which plans to provide flatlets to enable Meath natives to return home.
County secretary Mr Kevin Stewart said the county council's new strategy on homelessness would include the initiative, proposed by two county councillors, Mr Willie Carey and Mr Paddy Fitzsimons.
The two obtained the backing of other Meath County Council members for provision of a number of flatlets each year for people who left Meath to find work and who sent home money to support their families. Many now had fallen on hard times and were sleeping rough, they explained.
The Meath councillors are implementing a decision by the General Council of County Councils to recognise the plight of emigrants wishing to return to their native counties.
The decision was welcomed by Father Paul Byrne of the Episcopal Commission on Emigrants, who said many who left Ireland in the emigration waves of the 1950s and 1980s were now among the most deprived people in London and other English cities. Homelessness, alcoholism and schizophrenia were the chief problems.
Meanwhile, research has shown a growing homelessness problem in Co Meath. Officials reported that the period from 2001 to 2006 would see 24 per cent of the population having "affordability difficulties" as defined in the 2000 Housing and Development Act.