"The Simon Community takes the initiative, goes out to meet people rather than waiting for them to come."

That was the late Frank O'Leary's, chairman of the Dublin Simon Community, view as to what was distinctive about Simon. Many changes have taken place in the Simon Community, not least a growing need for services, but some of the most basic key elements of the founding philosophy still persist.

The Simon Community was founded in London in 1963 by Anton Wallich-Clifford, a probation officer. He realised that a number of ex-prisoners he worked with were homeless but that for the majority of people their problems were not solved by a hostel bed. He responded to this human need by setting up a different type of service to homeless people, one founded on the twin pillars of "Caring and Campaigning". He sought to show that the actions of the Simon Community, in working with those with whom no-one else was working, exemplified the possibility of a different, caring society.

The original concept of Community was one of four tiers of support. The first tier priorities were a place to sleep, plentiful food and an atmosphere of warmth and friendliness in an non-threatening environment. The second tier, or "half-way house", placed greater stress on comfort, quality of life, participation in the running of the house and preparation for move-on. The third tier was for those in genuine need of permanent care who would not survive the move to "normal" society, today called "supported housing". Because so many people found the loneliness of bedsit living overwhelming, the Simon Community developed a fourth tier for people living independently in the community but receiving ongoing support from Simon volunteers as part of an "extended community".

The Simon Community spread though England and Scotland during the sixties. By 1969 there were Simon projects in London, Liverpool, Exeter, Glasgow, Oxford and Cambridge.

The first Simon Community in Ireland was set up by students from Trinity College and University College Dublin in 1969, after a talk by Wallich-Clifford on the Irish homeless in Britain. Their first project was a soup run three nights a week, meeting people sleeping out in the streets of Dublin.

At a time, when the Simon Community needed to convince many of the value of their work, they struggled to find a premise where they could house homeless people in relative safety. The first group of volunteers eventually opened the Community house on Sarsfield Quay in 1970.

A number of Simon Communities were set up in the following years. Cork Simon was founded in 1971, Dundalk Simon in 1973, and Galway Simon Community in 1979.The Simon National Office was founded in 1972 to help co-ordinate the work of the Simon Communities. Two new Simon Communities, in the Midlands and South East, have recently affiliated to the Simon Federation, while other new Simon Communities may be set up in coming years, marking a new turning point in further expansion of the organisation.

In addition, a Simon Community was established in Northern Ireland in 1971. Its initial operations were confined to Belfast and comprised of a soup run along with the provision of a basic night shelter. Today in response to the increasing incidence of homelessness, the Community operates accommodation projects in nearly all major conurbations in the North.

The participants in this documentary include; Frank O'Leary (Dublin) Dermot McMahon (National Organiser), Olga Cox (Cork), Deasun O'Concubhair (Cork), Joe Revill (Limerick), Fr. DOnal Giltinan (Limerick), Dolores Whelan (Dundalk), Fred Williams (Belfast), Ian Hart (Dublin), Tom McPhail (Dublin) and Joe Moran (Dublin).

Visit the Irish Simon Community website here

Produced by Kieran Sheedy

First broadcast 2nd December, 1973

An Irish radio documentary from RTÉ Radio 1, Ireland - Documentary on One - the home of Irish radio documentaries