ABSTRACT
In attempting to write about homelessness in rural Ireland, a number of difficulties arise. Definitions of homelessness, and consequently the quantification of ‘homelessness’, are problematic, contested and emotionally charged (Jacobs et al., 1999; Edgar et al., 2003; O'sullivan, 2003), and a similar complexity exists with the use of, and understanding of, the term ‘rural’ (Tovey, 2002; McDonagh, 1998). In Ireland, it can be argued, the term ‘rural’ is vested with a range of symbolic meanings, which are routinely invoked to articulate particular belief systems and the importance and, often, superiority of rural life over urban life. Indeed, rural Ireland was symbolically constructed as an Arcadian utopia by both nationalist and Catholic ideologues from the late nineteenth century onwards (Devereux, 1991; O'Dowd, 1987). This particular articulation of rural Ireland culminated with the Taoiseach (Prime Minister) Eamon de Valera's vision of the ‘good society’ in his oft-quoted St Patrick's day speech in 1943, a key element of which entailed a countryside ‘bright with cosy homesteads’ (Cusack, 2001: see also Doherty and Keogh, 2003), a vision that seems inimical to homelessness.
