As Adult Education Officer with Cork Education and Training Board (Cork ETB), Ger Canning works closely with our education and training team to develop and fund tailored courses for people who are homeless in Cork. A passionate advocate for education and social justice, Ger also speaks, and presents certificates, at our annual Awards Ceremony.

“There's hope in the faces that sit in front of you waiting to come up to receive their certificates. You're saying to yourself, there's hope here, I can feel the hope.

But the problem is, where can they go with those certificates? You can sign post them to different places, but if they don't have a roof over their head, if they don't have somewhere to call home, it's very, very difficult for them to press on.

So I see us as being a provider, an enabler, but they need that space to call their own; it's a basic human right that everybody should have somewhere to call home.”

Ger talks about the collective social responsibility and action she believes is required to address homelessness …