A VIDEO WHICH features a first-hand account of a young person’s experience of accessing and using homelessness services in Ireland has been launched.

The video was put together by the Ombudsman for Children’s Office and marks the 25th anniversary of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Ratified by Ireland in 1992, the UNCRC sets out the rights that all children under 18 are entitled to, including the right to an adequate standard of living and the right to have their views heard.

In the video, the loneliness, vulnerability and dangers of homelessness are laid out, including drug use.

Between September and December 2011, the Ombudsman’s office conducted face-to-face interviews with young people using, or with recent past experience of using such services in Dublin and Cork.

The result of this project was first-hand account of young people’s experiences of homelessness compiled in a report called Homeless Truths which was supplied to policy makers in the area of youth homeless and it was referenced in the Department of Children and Youth Affairs in its 2013 Review of the Youth Homelessness Strategy.

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