Last night saw dozens of Trinity students putting out their sleeping bags for the second annual ‘Student Sleepout’, organised by Trinity FLAC in cooperation with TCDSU. The students set up just outside front gate, between the metal gates into Trinity and wooden doors of front arch itself, settling in for a cold night with temperatures ten degrees and lower.
Kate Heffernan, chairperson of Trinity FLAC, told Trinity News that “We want to raise awareness of the current homelessness crisis, which is the worst the state has ever seen since it’s foundation. We have over six thousand homeless people at the moment, and two thousand of them are children.”
The sleepout had fifty-five students sign up, each of whom had to raise a minimum of fifty euro. All of which is going to the Peter McVerry Trust, a charity directed towards fighting homelessness through housing initiatives, services and drug treatment programs. This is the second year of the sleepout, with hopes to hold another next year.
Jan O’Sullivan, a Labour party TD joined the students for the sleepout. Invitations were sent to a large number of politicians to attend, and Heffernan expressed some disappointment that there wasn’t higher attendance from political figures.
Jan O’Sullivan TD in her sleeping bag
