Council and volunteers rally to help homeless through the cold snap

Local charities and volunteers mobilised last week to assist Meath's rough sleepers, while Meath County Council dispensed with red tape to assist those sleeping rough in icy conditions. Cllr Alan Lawes, who operates a warm food run for rough sleepers year round with Johnstown TIdy Towns, said that many local organisations came together to help during the sub zero conditions.

"Meath County Council dispensed with red tape so we could get people into emergency accommodation quickly," he said. "Over the first weekend of the freeze they had housing officers available around the clock who helped take people off the street," he said.

"That did not continue through the week, but the exemption from red tape continued. Any rough sleepers contacted during the day got immediate assistance.

"There was a great effort by various local organisation and charities. I got a call about a young women whose gas boiler was gone. She had no heat and no way of cooking, but St Vincent De Paul got a plumber for her and got it sorted.

"St Vincent De Paul were very active and so were De Paul. Meath River Rescue also did great work. They offered to assist in any way, they checked areas where there were tents and notified us when they found people sleeping rough and were able to check in areas that were hard to access."

"Unfortunately we had someone who declined the offer of accommodation and we brought him hot food and checked on him regularly."

Meanwhile, Johnstown Tidy Towns, have been out doing winter gritting around the estate.

"We were out at 6am in the morning. We did paths and roads around the schools. We did the steps from Spire View which is used for people going to the shops as well as the slopes and hill like Boyne View and Millbrook."