About

My guest in this epsisode is Fr Peter McVerry, a Belfast born Jesuit priest who grew up in Newry, County Down before moving to Dublin. After his ordination in 1975 he  lived and worked in summerhill in North Dublin and came face to face with homelessness, poverty and deprivation. He went on to set up a trust to help struggling young people, including those facing addiction. This work started life in a 3 bedroom apartment in Ballymun and later became the Peter McVerry Trust which grew to include hostels, apartments, a detox centre and other services for people affected by addiction and homelessness. It is now one of the largest and most important organisations of its kind in Ireland. Fr McVerry has consistently been one of the most outspoken critics of government policy on housing and homelessness and is one of Ireland’s most respected campaigners and activists, a man who is very much walking his talk. It was great to get the time with Peter over Zoom and you can see the video version of this episode over on the Love and Courage YouTube channel or on my Facebook page, just look up Ruairi McKiernan – Hitching for Hope.