Minister Katherine Zappone has outlined her key principles in discerning the correct action in relation to the remains of dead babies at the Mother and Baby Home site in Tuam.

The Minister was opening the inaugural meeting of the Collaborative Forum at Leinster House today, which is designed to facilitate dialogue on issues of concern to former residents of Mother and Baby Homes.

Minister Zappone told the forum her five guiding principles, which she said mean a lot to her personally, and shape the recommendations that she must make now and in the future.

“Firstly, I am committed to making sure that we comply with international standards and norms when designing and implementing the decision on Tuam, including our obligations under international human rights law,” she said.

The Minister’s second principle is to make sure that all of those affected are central to the ‘design and implementation of what we do next’. She said that this includes both the former residents of the Home and their families and relations, and the people of Tuam themselves.

“Tuam is more than this history. It is a community and a place of goodness and care. The former Mother and Baby Home is part of its story, but it is not all of it. Similarly, experiences in Tuam are part of the lives, histories and stories of former residents, but they are also not everything.

“Through listening—truly listening—I hope to be able to ensure that we honour all of these parts of the identities and realities of those affected. I will not shy away from the challenge that this poses.”

The third principle was that women’s rights must be respected in this process. Minister Zappone said that what happened in Tuam was part of a pattern of ‘gender injustice’ that ‘we cannot overcome if we do not acknowledge it’.

“So often it was women—either as mothers or as children—who were affected. Their voices and their rights must be central,” she said.

Minister Zappone continued: “Similarly, and fourthly, I am committed to taking a child-centred approach. That has always been a commitment of mine in my work, and is all the more so now in my work as Minister for Children and Youth Affairs.

“Fifthly, I am committed to developing real partnerships through which we can make and implement decisions. To the extent possible I want us to approach this in a non-hierarchical manner; that is what this Collaborative Forum is all about.”

She said that the principles are based in her belief that as they move forward in making decisions about the site in Tuam, they must place ethical and moral duties of justice and love towards those who lived and died in the Mother and Baby Home in Tuam at the very core of their consideration.

Homelessness among 18-24-year-olds in the West is growing at double the national average, according to the latest emergency accommodation figures for June 2018.

The latest figures show that youth homelessness in the West of Ireland grew by 30% between June 2017 and June 2018, while the national average grew by 13.7%.

At the same time, the number of homeless children in the West also increased by over 50%, with 207 children now living in emergency accommodation.

Local homeless charity, Galway Simon Community, says that youth homelessness has been on the rise in Galway for a number of years now.

This year, the charity has already housed 15 young people experiencing homelessness.

Karen Golden, CEO of Galway Simon Community, said under 25’s now account for almost half the number of people living in emergency accommodation in the West of Ireland.

“Youth homelessness has been on the rise in Galway for a number of years now and this is something we see directly through the demand for our services. In 2016, we set up a dedicated Youth Service to respond to this need and already this year we have housed 15 young people experiencing homelessness and supported others who are at risk of homelessness.

“Our Youth Service focuses on early intervention, aiming to work with this group at an impressionable time in order to prevent them sliding into entrenched homelessness.

“If we can prevent someone from having to access emergency homeless services in the first place, the outcomes are much better in that the trauma of emergency accommodation is not experienced.

“The associated costs of providing homeless services are also significantly reduced.”

She added that it is important to remember that the emergency accommodation figures only give us an indication of the homelessness crisis, as they do not include people sleeping rough, sofa surfing, the ‘hidden homeless’ or people living in homeless services.

“But behind each of these numbers are real people; individuals, families, young adults and children who have nowhere else to go,” she said.

“Every day we are seeing the effects of this and the trauma experienced by those living in emergency accommodation within our work in the local community.

“We cannot rely on the private rental sector in Galway to deliver social housing. We have already seen that the Rent Pressure Zones (RPZ) within Galway City are not working.

“The RPZ measure clearly sets out that rent increases are to be capped at 4% annually yet, according to Daft.ie’s Quarter 2 report, rents in the city increased by nearly 14% in the last year. We urgently need more social and affordable housing to ensure that people can start moving out of emergency accommodation and homeless services to a place of their own.”

Workers from County Galway spend up to 10,000 minutes travelling to work more than their counterparts in the city, a new report has found.

The Western Development Commission’s study, which analyses census data, shows that people in Co. Galway spend an average of 29.3 minutes per day getting to work, whereas in the City people spent just 21.7 minutes getting to work.

With a typical work week and taking into consideration holidays, on average workers outside the city spend roughly 10,000 minutes more per year getting to work.

The data also showed that 58.7% of Galway people say they’re in ‘good health’ and there are more females than males in the county by 1%.

67.5% of people have internet access, while 54% live in rural areas. The population rose by 3% since 2011.

The infographic also showed that 45.3% of people in Galway have a third level qualification and that 5% of people in the county work in agriculture.