Rich asked to aid poor to stop dire Christmas as part of Derry trade union COVID-19 hardship appeal

Liam Gallagher, of the Unite trade union, said businesses and people with disposable income should be asked to contribute to an emergency fund.

He said it would help give struggling families some hope ahead of what is likely to be a difficult festive period for many.

Members of Derry City and Strabane District Council recently agreed to examine the logistics of a hardship fund in order to help lessen poverty during the first Christmas in the age of COVID-19.

Mr. Gallagher said: “As everyone is acutely aware this will be a very severe financial hardship for many families this Christmas in Derry.

“Many, many hundreds of workers have been on reduced wages since March. Many have lost their jobs.

“Many, many families in Derry are currently three or more months in arrears with debts on their financial commitments.

“Many children in the city will face real poverty this Christmas.”

Mr. Gallagher said that on behalf of the Unite union he recently approached Councillors Shaun Harkin, Mary Durkan and Sandra Duffy and asked them to bring forward a proposal for a fund to the council.

The matter was raised by Colr. Harkin at the full meeting of Council at the end of last month and supported by the other members.

Speaking at that meeting Colr. Harkin said: “I want to propose that the council launch a hardship fund to try and alleviate as much as possible the desperate poverty that we are facing across the district.

“This proposal has come to me from trade unions and they are worried about their own members who are facing absolute poverty.”

Colr. Harkin said council should take responsibility for asking those who have disposable income to fund a hardship fund for those in need.

“A lot of people are going to be going without food. They are going to be struggling with heat payments.

“They are going to be struggling with all sorts of basic things.”

Councillors agreed to write to the Executive seeking financial support and to defer the matter to the council’s welfare reform working group to discuss the practicalities.

Mr. Gallagher believes that time is of the essence and that the council needs to take the lead on the initiative as a matter of urgency.

“It is important now that the council does everything in its power to activate a citywide appeal in a non-political fashion.

“It’s about asking people who have disposable income, and particularly companies, to make a contribution when this fund is set up by the council to alleviate real poverty, particularly for children this Christmas.

“I would finally appeal to the council to make this happen and I believe they have got the facilities and the organisation to do so,” said Mr. Gallagher.