Ann Delaney RIP

[sunshinellight]

https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/if-it-happened-to-her-it-could-happen-to-anyone-how-death-of-much-loved-homeless-woman-ann-delaney-has-hit-a-nerve/a1596077561.html
This poor woman obviously had a lot of complex issues but it looks as if the lack of single sex accommodation was a contributing factor to her death from hypothermia on the streets of Dublin last week.

“No one wants to end up on the streets, but the truth is, Ann found comfort on the streets,” Mr O’Reilly said. “She had been staying in a hostel some time back, but that closed down. She really didn’t feel safe in any other hostels — most of them are mixed, and she said she preferred the streets.
“She simply couldn’t find a hostel where she felt safe. Some of them are dreadful places. The Government needs to provide more women-only and men-only hostels"

Disgraceful. All this bantam strutting about Ireland's economy. Pffft. I don't blame Ann for being wary of hostels that have both sexes. A friend spent one night in a men only homeless shelter in Dublin. He never went back. Not a pleasant experience even for a man.

There was a MNetter who lived rough for months, through hard weather and severe medical needs, because there was no shelter where her need for a single sex space was put above the need of male people to have all of everything.

This was inevitable, and these two women will not be the only ones who had nowhere to go because of the TQ+ political lobby's intolerance and refusal to allow women's needs to be met regardless of impact. How many deaths have gone under the radar? How many women have died in domestic violence incidents so far this year who stayed in a dangerous situation because they couldn't go into a shelter with male people who identified as women? We know from MNetters that there are rape victims without services.

Who is counting the missing women while we prioritise the wishes and feelings of men?

Please be careful with facts and sensitive to Ann's family. They made it clear at her funeral that she was loved and supported by her family, and by friends and support organizations, and had a home waiting for her.
Homelessness is a huge problem, but this tragedy had other causes.

I agree and I think it is made clear in the article that she had a supportive family. The thread isn't intended to be insensitive but neither would it be right to ignore the fact that the lack of a single sex hostel seems to have been a contributing factor and I have no doubt there are other homeless women in a similar situation.

I agree with you about the lack of suitable hostel provision, I think I felt the pain of the family, unable to reach someone they loved in a way that she could accept, watching helplessly, and reacted to that. It resonated with a family experience of a relative who was addicted to alcohol and couldn't be reached. You're right in what you say.
RIP all who don't make it

This is a very very sad story. However the housing crisis and the lack of safe hostels, albeit a despicable failure, isn't the whole issue here. I passed Ann frequently and there were very clear psychiatric issues combined with severe alcohol abuse. Mental health support in Ireland is appalling. Her family and service providers offered her help which she repeatedly refused. I personally am not clear on why you can't just section someone that vulnerable but apparently you can't. Having had a family member die in not dissimilar circumstances, my heart goes out to the family, especially Ann's daughter.

She had been staying in a hostel some time back, but that closed down. She really didn’t feel safe in any other hostels — most of them are mixed, and she said she preferred the streets.

I agree that we should be careful when commenting about someone we dont know, but do think that as the article said she didn't feel safe in mixed hostels, it is worth noting. More and more in terms of homelessness mixed accommodation has become the norm, and for many young vulnerable women this means being put in hostels where they are likely to exploited.

As to the comments about sectioning someone that is just so not a solution to the problem

In the area I live there is a woman who regularly sits outside the town hall, and has refused offers of mixed accommodation because she doesn't feel safe. The local council tried to get her sectioned and at one point the police did come and remove her and took her to a hospital where they first thing they did was to try and drug her. Luckily she manged to text a local organisation who managed to get her released.

ie we shouldn't think that shutting someone away so we dont see them and so aren't reminded of the failures of society that that is the solution.

RIP Ann and commiseration to her family for their loss.

All of this. As usual Frood puts it better than I could.

No-one is counting these women, deliberately, because if people knew the real numbers the whole idea of 'it's just being kind' pandering to transactivists would be blown out of the water and the trans agenda would be seen as the woman-harming ideology it really is.

I am a 46 year old irish feminist. I was so excited to see the feminist board on mumsnet and honestly I am so disappointed. The majority of the posts I see are transbashing . What about all the other areas that impact women on a daily basis? My experience has shown me that gay and trans people have always been staunch allies to Irish women. It's so sad about Anns death but blaming her death on propogation of trans agenda is horse shit. Stop trying to crowbar it in everywhere. Ann had safe places available to her. May she rest in peace

This isn't meant to be a gossipy thread and I hope nobody would take it that way. I think the complexity of the issues are outlined in the linked article.
Having said that, if her death highlights the need for women only hostels, then it would be wrong to remain silent on the issue. I don't know her family but I would imagine they would welcome improvements in such services.
I don't live in Dublin but when I was last there, last year, I was shocked at the amounts of tents I saw in the streets around the city centre.
I know this is not unique to Dublin as a friend of mine was in Paris recently and made similar remarks.
Having said that, I know that, for example, all the migrants currently sleeping in tents around the International Protection building are men, so there is a recognition that women are especially vulnerable on the streets.
I hadn’t given much thought to the whether there were hostels provided specifically for women until I read that article.
I have often seen homeless men interviewed saying that they preferred the streets as the hostels were so dangerous, so they really must be terrifying for a vulnerable woman. The fact that there is a lack of such a service is shocking, as is the entire level of homelessness in general.
Thanks to the Gender Recognition Act, there can never really be a single sex hostel in Ireland, as it allows people not just to change gender, but legally change sex. But that is a whole other issue.

That's very sad. RIP to Ann. My thoughts with her family.

Of course homeless women need single sex accommodation. I wonder what provision there is nationwide.

Poor Ann, and her family.

Can we focus on the need for safe hostels for everyone? The lack of funding for hostels and inadequate mental health provision are this issues here.

Unless I’m missing something, this isn’t about single sex hostels admitting a few trans identifying men, it’s about the lack of single sex hostels at all.

Unless I’m missing something, this isn’t about single sex hostels admitting a few trans identifying men, it’s about the lack of single sex hostels at all.
Absolutely.

Yes, indeed.