Oglaigh Naisiunta Na hEireann Teoranta
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Mission Statement
The main object for which the Company is established is to: Support the needs of Irish veterans by the provision of accommodation to homeless and other veterans in need of such domestic accommodation in its Veterans’ Homes and the provision of other advice and support to veterans through its nationwide network of Branches and Veterans’ Support Centres. The following objects set out hereafter are exclusively subsidiary and ancillary to the main object set out above and these objects are to be used only for the attainment of that main object and any income generated therefrom is to be applied for the main object only. (i) Comradeship (a) To develop a spirit of comradeship among veterans, and between veterans and serving members of Óglaigh Na hÉireann. (b) To foster public interest in Óglaigh Na hÉireann. (c) To promote social and cultural activities. (ii) Advocacy (a) To advocate with the Department of Defence, Defence Forces, and other elements of national and local government on behalf of veterans. (b) To maintain liaison with veterans’ organisations of other states. (iii) Remembrance (a) To remember those who served. (b) To participate in national and local remembrance ceremonies. (iv) To do all such other things as will assist in achieving the above objects and aims.
About This Cause
About This Cause The role of Óglaigh Náisiúnta na hÉirean (ONE) can be summarised in four simple words – Support, Comradeship, Advocacy, and Remembrance. Let us examine what those words mean in the 21st Century and in doing so increase our understanding of why ONE needs help to • Fund homes for homeless veterans. • Put in place preventative measures to avert homelessness. • Provide other support services for veterans of the Defence Forces. Support Support takes many forms. It ranges from a warm greeting to a fellow veteran, to a bed for a homeless veteran in one of our hostels, and everything in between. • ONE has 35 Branches and 3 Area Councils. • ONE is developing 14 Veteran Support Centres nationwide with the support of the Department of Defence and the Defence Forces. These can be described as a cross between Advice Centres and Men’s / Women’s Sheds. Veteran Support Centres are now located in: Athlone; Casement Aerodrome; Cavan; Curragh Camp; Dundalk; Galway; Kilkenny; Limerick; and a temporary facility in Collins Barracks Cork. ONE will establish further Veteran Support Centres in: Collins Barracks and Cobh (Cork); Cathal Brugha Barracks and McKee Barracks (Dublin); Finner Camp (Ballyshannon); and Wexford • ONE currently has homes for homeless veterans in Athlone, Cobh, Dublin & Letterkenny and we are also in the process of developing a home in Cork in tandem with the planned Veteran Support Centre there. Approximately 900 homeless veterans have used our services. ONE provides over 16,000 bed nights every year in our hostels, with 95% of the veterans we help in our Dublin hostel moving on to permanent housing. These are fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters, sons and daughters, and our next-door neighbours who volunteered to join the Defence Forces to serve their country. Nobody volunteers to become a homeless veteran. Comradeship We use the term comrade deliberately because it evokes a sense of shared experience, a shared culture, a shared set of values, and a willingness to serve. Being part of a veterans’ association, and I include all associations, helps preserve a sense of identity and a sense of belonging. It also evokes a sense of shared responsibility for those less fortunate than us. The Defence family, like any true community, is not just an organisation; rather it is an organism made up of smaller parts that work together. Homeless veterans are part of that family and they cannot be left behind. There is a tendency to blame others when things go wrong or to say that caring for veterans is the responsibility of other agencies. However, when a former soldier, sailor, or airman or women is involved, we believe that it is our responsibility to help our fellow veteran. Advocate ONE unashamedly advocates in support of veterans. It advocates particularly on behalf of those who are less fortunate than others. The majority of veterans of the Defence Forces, irrespective of length of service, are very successful in their new careers or are happy in retirement. However, there are quite a number who need help from time to time. There is a dual challenge in providing this help; ignorance of the issue and ignoring the issue. Both of these have to be addressed. The Sleeping Flags Awareness Campaign, launched in February of this year, was aimed at those who were ignorant of the plight of some our veterans and we are also working very hard on ensuring that those who now know about it, don’t just ignore it. Advocacy on veterans’ issues must remain constant. Remembrance Remembrance is the fourth pillar of ONE and it is therefore appropriate that the Annual Fuchsia Appeal is launched at the Defence Forces National Memorial in Merrion Square. Remembrance serves to bring or to or keep in mind those who have made the ultimate sacrifice and we will always honour them. However, we must also remember those veterans who for some reason or another become homeless or others that need our support. Funding The current level of service provision costs in the region of €800,000 annually. Our future annual funding requirement is estimated at €1,000,000. Our Dublin hostel - Brú na bhFiann - receives support from the Dublin Region Homeless Executive and the Department of Defence contribute annually towards the administrative overheads of the charity. The balance of our income, approximately €650,000 for planned services, must be raised by various forms of fundraising. This includes: Members Subscriptions; Donations; Receipts for Meals and Accommodation; and our National Collection, the Fuchsia Appeal. Corporate bodies can fulfil their social responsibility by sponsoring rooms in our homes, sponsoring their local Veteran Support Centre or Branch, or by donating their expertise. ONE is increasing its engagement in this area and with charity partners and acknowledges the great support of • Cygnus Consulting who have become the first company to sponsor a room in one of our facilities. • ROTHCO / Accenture one of our close neighbours in Smithfield who spearheaded the Sleeping Flags Awareness Campaign. They won a host of media awards for the campaign but more importantly the awareness campaign helped ONE identify and support a number of homeless veterans that would otherwise not have come to our attention • Harte Communications for media advice. • Dublin Bus for continuing our Sleeping Flags Awareness Campaign in July. • The Leopardstown Trust who now sponsor the training of our staff and volunteers. • The ESB’s Energy for Generations Fund for their support in upgrading the lighting systems in Brú na bhFiann.