Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
‘CHANGE’ AND ‘REFORM’ are the buzz words among the nearly one thousand attendees at the Reform Conference in Dublin’s RDS this afternoon.
A wide selection of Irish society have descended on the conference hall with more males than females – as panellist Olivia O’Leary noted – and plenty of ideas and policies being thrown around.
One attendee, who declined to be identified, said he was former member of the Fianna Fáil national executive who had quit over a lack of substantive policy proposals. He hopes he’ll get some of that today.
There are also former and current members of Fine Gael – including the Reform Alliance themselves – among the audience and, judging by applause earlier, a strong pro-life contingent.
We spoke to a few attendees during a break in proceedings today:
Lorraine Lynch, from Clare, is a former member of one of the bigger political parties and “thinks a lot could be changed”:
Bob Quinn, from Naas, isn’t sure whether reform is actually achievable but thinks the good turnout is encouraging:
Maurice O’Grady, from Blackrock, is “interested in the reform of politics that’s so badly needed”:
Dwyane Brown, from north Dublin, is fed-up and says “we need to encourage new voices and new people”:
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
What did he die of ? Was it due to the cold, or did he overdose ?
Not trying to be insensitive, but it makes a difference.
@Ace: did homelessness contribute to his death?
Some homeless people don’t have addiction problems but take to alocohol and druges to alleviate the utter misery of homeless. It’s truly an awful experience to spend time rough sleeping. It’s excruciatingly and painfully miserable in Winter.
@Fiona deFreyne: I agree with you and I have sympathy for the homeless. My point is that this artle is very vague. It just says that one person has died in the past year. Yes, but from what ? He could have been hit by a bus for all we know.
@Ace: I refuse to synpyhatihise with the homelessness any further until I personally am provided with daily copies of each of their latest medical records, also I’ll needing photographic evidence of them being genuinely sad at least twice a day.
@Fiona deFreyne: From what I remember the guy who died was a registered sex offender. He was given a place after Apollo house last year but ended up on the streets again..
@Ace: It makes a difference when you are looking for an excuse to blame the man for his death.
Having to live on the streets is never a good enough reason.
@Ace: YES YOU ARE
@Christy Pop: I am what ? Are you on the sauce Christy ?
@Ace: being incensitive, just polishing off the last of the whisky now
It is interesting to see how some want to divert responsibility away from the real and actual causes of homelessness and try to focus on what they perceive as undeserved but unrepresentative cases.
Unless or until the reality of the real causes of homelessness, the crisis will continue.
We need to get stuck into the causes, not the symptoms.
@Ace: the man they’re referring to is persumably the alcoholic convicted paedophile that was deported from australia and allegedly infected a women deliberately with hiv. It was big news a few months ago. How quick you forget
@Christy Pop: spellcheck, spellcheck….
@Dave Doyle: Where should sex offenders and sociopaths live?
@Fiona deFreyne: excellent response
@Ace: well done on being a grade A w@nker
@Trevor W: why because he’s seeking more information? Information is key
It’s very sad, people dying on the streets. But at the end of the day you can’t help people that don’t want to help themselves.
@kyle o Rourke: well said from your nice warm home
@kyle o Rourke: that, of course, does not mean that they should not be helped.
The bigger problems are involuntary homeless for which the vicrtims are not in any was responsible.
@kyle o Rourke: You can help people through intervention, but a minority are beyond help, a minority.
@Christy Pop: yes my nice warm house that I work hard for and won’t listen to anyone tell me I’m lucky or anything else. On your bike
@kyle o Rourke: especially when their Irish and can’t claim asylum or refugee status pc o rourke
Explain homeless
Is there 8, 500 people living on the streets.
If you’re in a hotel or a hub is that homeless
Can you be on a housing list if you stay with your family while waiting.
Or will you get a house quicker if you opt to go into a hotel.
@Benjamin Dolan: Cousin of mine and his family were staying in the Gresham for the last year and a half thanks to the State. He reckoned they spent over a 100 grand on them in that time….Government and their spending of our money is just dandy, isn’t it.
@Dick Durkin: That wasn’t an answer to the question I asked.
But tell me does your cousin have to contribute to his accommodation.
I wonder why many parents allow their
Families to be homeless,
@Benjamin Dolan: how of them are in hotels that went to social n said there ma kicked her n 2 kids on the street n were then put in hotel all the benefits just so mother rents the rooms out to students etc for extra money
@Alan Carthy: ever thought of a career in creative writing………..fantasy of course
@Mícheál de Burca: but not completely wrong. Back to the ma should be the first port of call. Especially if the ma is in a house owned by the state. The state can never provide enough housing if people can just demand and expect.
@Benjamin Dolan: homelessness is an extremely multi-faceted and manifests itself across various forms! The first legal definition was The Housing Act 1988 a) there is no accommodation available which, in the opinion of the authority, he, together with any other person who normally resides with him or who might reasonably be expected to reside with him, can reasonably occupy or remain in occupation of,
or
(b) he is living a hospital, county home, night shelter or other such institution, and is so living because he has no accommodation of the kind referred to in paragraph (a), and
(c) he cannot provide accommodation from his own resources.
Obviously homelessness has changed since, living with family involuntarily, couch surfing , rough sleeping , etc is considered homelessness
@Alan Carthy: Learn how to read and write before you embarrass yourself any further.
This is just one example of one death, Jim’s death, in a hospital. He was never in a homeless hostel. He fell through the cracks. He was not a homeless statistic but he was killed by homelessness
Unless or until we focus on and really cause cause and not just symptoms, there will be no resolution.
So, this is a very bare description of one casualty of the housing crisis. It is a modern morality tale. It tells us the consequence of not addressing causes. Jim was only one casualty but it reveals much.
Jim died in hospital at 54 years of age. He died of pneumonia following severe pulmonary problems. It is not known how long he was homeless, probably less than a year. His business folded in the recession. He sold his home because it had been mortgaged to cover business debts and to meet guarantee obligations. He rented and was unable to keep up the rent. He promptly moved out when he couldn’t pay the rent. His ex wife said that she would allow him a few month to stay in her new home but her solicitor strongly advised against it. It was a temporary blip.
He lived in his car. The weather was okay.
His car was burned out when he was at a Social Protection interview. Just a temporary blip.
He was now a rough sleeper but it was a glitch. He knew that he would soon be sorted.
He was popular in his local library where he stayed much of the day. He was well and quietly spoken.
He has a recurrence of a lung complaint. He got chronic bronchitis. He had not been able to get a medical card but he took vitamin C and zinc. He would take no time to get over this. He was strong.
The weather closed in. He now had developed a deep wracking cough. He found a nice sheltered place to pad down in a doorway but he was quickly moved on. Just another temporary blip but he would soon get over this.
To his personal mortification, he had now came on the radar of a street charity. He told a story that he had been “on the pi**” and he was temporarily locked out home but he did not drink whilst homeless. He furiously refused the offer of soup and food, although he was desperately hungry. He never took charity. The young female charity volunteer urged him to take something. He was now insulted and angry. An older volunteer gently moved the young volunteer away. He told her that it was the man’s right to refuse food and help. He then said to her that the man would not be on the streets long. He could not beg and he could not cope. He was desperate for food. He had the ability to refuse help. He always refused. He shifted location now that he had been discovered, but left behind his sleeping bag in his rush to get away. He needed not to be bothered.
A few days later, he was delirious. He was smothering in his own mucous. He was taken into hospital by ambulance in the early hours of the morning. He had disposed of all ID and personal details. He just had a note that he was to be cremated.
He received great care in hospital but died 18 hours later. It had been hopeless. Pneumonia quickly overwhelmed him. He seemed to find it easy to let go. He died on his own, curtains pulled round.
His family found out about his death only 2 weeks later. He now has a nice plot, although he was cremated. He actually has a simple gravestone even though only his ashes are interred. It’s nice accommodation. The neighbours are quiet. It’s a sort of resting place.
A nurse on duty when he died was professionally pleased that the man, who looked almost 85 when he died, was absolutely no fuss at all. He died easily and gently. None of the usual mess. It was just a temporary blip in a busy hospital. There was discussion between the staff in the hospital if anyone would go to the funeral but life had moved on. No one attended. His ex wife would have gone but she only found out later. She told the solicitor that her former husband had died. The solicitor reassured her than the business debts and shortfall on the sale of the family home had died with him. Legally speaking, it was a very convenient death.
Jim died in hospital of pneumonia. He was in hospital when he died. He was not a homeless statistic. He was never on an official radar. Former friends knew only of an untimely death. It was nice that there had been no fuss. His death certificate makes no reference to homelessness.
Jim’s name doesn’t matter and revealing his name now would mortify him if he was still alive. He gets a little respect in death. He has no stigma of homelessness attaching to his memory. He worked hard, paid his taxes, tried to but got no state assistance. He was just an accidental casualty. He was hopeful that his difficulties were temporary. The difficulties were temporary because they killed him.
We can pretend that this is a fictional story. Indeed, we may have to think that it is fiction. To accept this sad tale would be too much.
Some people are already ghosts before they die. Jim never made any fuss. A nice quiet fellow. Moderate by nature. He’s already forgotten about.
@Fiona deFreyne: Reads like some facebook propaganda baloney. Can you provide the source.
@Ace: the account from a family member speaks for itself. It is easy to deny it. Reality is its own truth. Denial does not change reality.
@Fiona deFreyne: So no source then. I thought as much.
Asking for evidence that something is accurate is not denial BTW.
@Ace: There are lots of jim,
@Ace: do you work for fine Gaels spin unit?
@John Dman: asking for verification is not spin! “Fiona’s” article is so contrived that it needs to be questioned. My question is not whether his story is fake or not (it obviously is), but how he managed to beat the 800 letter count.
@Ace: the evidence is the reality of what happened. Jim was not a homelessness statistic.
Jim’s life and death has its own reality. I don’t have permission to reveal his full name and personal details. I have permission to tell his tale. I spoke to the volunteers who tried to help him. I spoke to the nurse in the hospital. The events, Jim’s life and tragic death, happened and happened as described. I have his death certificate and birth certificate. I have no problem with your scepticism. It is not a story that suits our narratives.
I’m looking at a project which will tell the real life events of 100 homeless people, all dead, using a group of law students, student journalists and social workers in training to collate the information gathering.
The truth is that many homeless people who die, die is hospital and are not designated as homeless deaths.
@Ace: even if fiona de freyne story is facebook propaganda baloney, not saying it is, there are lots of real people like jim ,why if you really care about homeless people does it matter if his story is baloney or not showing your true colours arent u
@Joe Bloggs:
The person who has to contribute to fixing the problem, that’s who.
Get used to it
@Fiona deFreyne: why didn’t the family menber who’s account of Jim you posted help poor jim?.
@Gulliver Foyle: why do you need verification ? is homelessness not a real issue?
@Fiona deFreyne: The headline of this article says that the person died on the street. You say that Jim died in hospital. It is not the same person in that case.
@Roy Dowling: he was divorced. His children were unaware of the extent of his difficulties. His ex wife offered to accommodate him but it would have prejudiced her legal position in her new home, according to her solicitor.
Jim was unable to bring himself to look fir help in the same way that the 71 yearly Frank who was evicted during the week sought help. Jim was too proud and too independent but, believe it or not, there are so many people living lives of quiet desperation, facing the imminent threat of homelessness or already falling off the edge.
We can challenge reality, we can deny reality, we can hide from reality, we can find excuses for reality but reality exists and won’t change unless or until there is the real popular will and support for change.
@Fiona deFreyne: Jim’s last name was Spoof.
@Ace: it is a different case.
If you die in hospital, you have not died on the streets. Jim died in hospital 18 hours after admission.
I was making a point that deaths on the streets do not represent all of the deaths due to and directly caused by homelessness.
It is interesting that a person can live rough on the streets, often fir a long time, but if they collapse and are brought to hospital by ambulance and they later die in hospital, homelessness is not recorded as a contributory cause to death.
Rough sleeping of any significant continuous duration causes premature morbidity and mortality.
@Ace: calling it spoof does not change the reality of his life and death. It is easier to pretend that it did not happen. Reality can be ignored.
@Fiona deFreyne: He Ex wife knew he was homeless but couldn’t help him because of leagal issues, Any reason why he’s ex wife didnt inform there children there father was homeless?. And if they knew why didn’t they let him stay there? Legal issues aswell I suppose…
@Ace: TRUE COLOURS
@Ace: MINOMINOT
@Christy Pop: Step away from the chardonnay Christy.
@Ace: whisky ,NICE
@Christy Pop: Sure why not. Happy Christmas.
@Fiona deFreyne: yawn
@Fiona deFreyne: Tony what benefit will this project bring? Can see the student benefit but would it not be better to use living people? Or a mix?
@Joe Bloggs: a disgusting FG troll maybe? One of Sock Boy’s minions maybe?
@Joe Bloggs:
Wrong.
It’s called the ballot box.
@Fiona deFreyne: Five and a half screenful of text. There’s no way that was under 800 characters. More like 4000 characters. Jesus your normal posts are normally too long as it is. Don’t tell me you’ve found a way to cheat the system.
I wonder what Brendan et al did with all the money donated to Apollo house, there seems to be very little mention of the good or otherwise that it provided.
@Alan Conroy: I made a very substantial financial donation. I also arrange collections of clothes and food. The finances have been fully accounted for to me. I’m happy that the money was properly used. No donors have made any complaint. There are no grounds for complaint. I’m surprised that if you made a donation, you did not get full details.
How many homelessness stories will we have today? And I’m just waiting on another front page Irish Independent story on the crisis too, because you know that fine newspaper is sincere in its heartfelt reporting on the issue.
@Dick Durkin: you don’t have to read the accounts. Homeless people don’t have any option. Think about it from their perspective, not from your own comfortable perspective.
@Fiona deFreyne: Many of those living on the street will not live in accomdation. Some that have previously been housed have destroyed it to a point where it became uninhabitable. Others have refused housing with excuses like “it’s not in me area”, “it’s too far away from me ma/family”. How many empty housing estates are there in Leitrim, Longford or Roscommon. Houses owned by NAMA and available for the Homeless but are being refused by those same Homeless with the excuses above.
@Dick Durkin: nice and warm where u are?
@Christy Pop: its nice and warm where i am and why shouldnt it be i pay my heating bills mortgage car tax and insurance etc.i work hard am i supposed to feel guilty for being warm ?
@paddy DONT be so smug , IT could happen to you.
@Fiona deFreyne: I pay my mortgage every month, I pay 2% higher in interest than any other European country. I blame the government. I do not go to the city centre to shop any more maybe I am a coward but this homeless crisis I just cannot stomach it. It makes me want to bang politicians heads in the dail and push them out onto the streets have a taste of what sleeping rough is like. What ever the reason for sleeping rough we well to do bast€€Ds in Ireland can do better. Every week at least two people or more are found dead. Our concern is really false just like the governments concern is so fake it’s disgusting.
@Mick Jordan: “Homeless”
@Jennifer Mann: And when the “Homeless” refuse a home, what should they be called?
@Mick Jordan: If they have small children, if they have nothing, I can well understand that they would need a familiar face nearby. I thought the system was that council tenants did have two chances to have a choice of area. I could be wrong, but if a house or flat is ready, someone on the housing list is going to move into it. It hardly matters if a few are holding out for somewhere nearer. Somebody will be housed, and there’s a massive list still to be cleared. I’ve seen almost empty housing estates outside Dublin too, and they don’t have basic facilities, many of them aren’t even on a bus route. Surely anyone so badly off can’t afford a car either? There just isn’t enough social housing.
@Fiona Fitzgerald: If I was homeless with small children my first and only priority would be to get a home for them no matter were it was. If that means moving to the far side of the moon then so be it. These people are being given practically a free house fully furnished. They shouldn’t get a choice. It should be a case of take it or you are removed from all housing lists.
He must have lost the key to the accommodation that Coveney promised him. Because we all know Fine Gaelers are men of their word and there’s no way someone like Coveney,who’s gone on to become Tainaiste, would break his pledge to a homeless individual just to get out of a tight squeeze now would he.
@Muiris O’Daltuin:
And yet when a protest is called for in relation to the evictions in that apartment block in Cork….
250 people turned up.
How many people were at the water protests in Cork? I’m sure it ran to many thousands.
@Muiris O’Daltuin: He was given accommodation. He ended up back on the streets anyway. Also he was a registered sex offender who was deported from Australia.
@P.J. Nolan: You hit the nail on the head there. When it doesn’t directly affected people themselves most won’t be bothered. I bet it they were told they’d have to pay a contribution towards the families re-housing there’d be a 100,000 people out on the streets and only because they’d have to put their hands in their pockets.
@Nick Drake: why should we pay more. Taxes are being paid
@Nick Drake:
The water protests were the great unifier in Ireland, people on the left objected because it didn’t take account of ability to pay and on the right you objected to the enormous quango that is IW.
Fact is the housing crisis will never be the same, a lot of households, I believe a majority, are quite happy to see house prices rising
Time to take another empty building from Nama and use this for homeless people.
The Covernment didn’t backup their promises. So why should the public.
@Hans Vos: Dublin City Council and other authorities have a legal team on standby in order to make emergency Court injunctions if any occupation is taken. The Guards are also geared up with a designated Garda Superintendent and a team ready.
Apollo House was unusual because there was no forcible entry. The building had been left unsecured.
So what is there is a court injunction issued by a man on a high chair. And so what if the Gardai have a crack team ready. If these people had half the power they like to make out we’d be paying for water by now.
It dosnt matter whether there is forcible entry. If you have the numbers, you could hatchet a door down with the gardai looking on helplessly.
Housing activists need to grow a set of balls. The next step up from Apollo House is an Apollo House where they say stuff your injunction. It would either result in a longer occupation of a building or political prisoners. Both of which would not be wins for the state, but wins for any housing campaign.
@Hans Vos: how about the DAIL?
What I find no comment on is the the fact that you can read media from many European countries and the story is the same. Homeless figures rocketing, the housing crisis, health services crumbling etc etc. It seems to be the acceptable EU model.
I want to read more about homelessness…
@Jason Burns: Google it..
@munsterman: no thanks
@munsterman: is there a particular search term for the Irish version of homelessness? You know? Access to a family home, being on a list and staying in state provided housing and accommodation with no risk of rough sleeping, but “homeless”. I’d call it hiberno-homeless, but it’s not even an Irish problem, but unique to Dublin.
Years ago we had County Homes and many of the then homeless ended up there and passed away without any relatives to contact. They were looked after by the State through the funded county councils who managed there Homes with the support of the religious community. While the arrangements in these homes were often overcrowded it was at least a safe environment with the the benefit of some clean surroundings and decent meals.
I experienced funerals where a passing by member of the public would be asked to help to carry the coffin of the deceased person into the church as there were no relatives or friends to look after the deceased.
Sad times but at least the homeless were assisted to keep off the streets.
@Fiona: so please tell us what they did with the money? Im very interested to know and it sounds like you’ve been given a good description… great to share all the positive news
@Graham Hunt: Why don’t you ask the AH organisers? They published verified accounts months ago.
The money raised is not for homeless
It’s for charities.
The politicians know about the scams
But won’t stick their heads above the parapet, naturally can’t risk their seats
@Benjamin Dolan: Have you checked out the figures on Trocaire? Big executive salaries etc. They won’t ever get a cent from me and that’s not just because of their “ethos”.
@Patrick J. O’Rourke: True enough, but the government I think should have made provision for people in need without adding extra layers of bureaucracy. What’s objectionable about their ethos? Is it the missionary aspect? I prefer secular aid organisations myself.
Stop using people’s story’s to elict a response that will benefit the organisation, this comment is meant for all groups, your mandate should now change to one of solutions, if the groups continue to use personal stories they are adding to the problem instead of being a solution..
Fair play to Brendan for throwing open his front door. Not.
Wasn’t that one former member Shane “Jack” Watson who was a convicted paedophile and purposely and knowingly infected a woman with HIV whom Home Sweet Home had planned to hold a vigil, but it was all cancelled once it was discovered. If they are not prepared to treat each homeless person the same, then it’s no wonder the progress has failed.
I may well get slated for what I am about to write but the homeless crisis has always been there even before the most recent crash. My biggest fear is when all the families in hotels are eventually housed (who knows when) those who have always been on the street will continue to do so.
While its all well and good that we are pushing for housing, we also need to deal with the root cause of long term homeless on the streets: addiction, mental health and job security. In terms of addiction services here in Ireland we lag way behind the times. We have 129 residential detox beds for the whole of Ireland with 19 impatient beds. Of this only 4 residential beds are for adolescents! I suppose this is a plus considering we have only had adolescent beds since 2011. Further to this mental health services here in Ireland are deplorable with the government relying on charity mental health services such as Pieta House and the Samaritans among others to pick up the slack while slashing mental health budgets and closing youth mental health beds due to staff shortages and also housing children in adult wards.
In terms of families living in hotels – children and adults, the government and housing services need to start engaging with them and in return these families need to start engaging with them. The pressure of housing in Dublin is massive even for those that are not homeless. It might be time to start encouraging people who are on the housing list or homeless in hotels to consider accommodation outside of Dublin although I am aware that people want to stay close to family, but it could go towards solving housing in the longer run.
I got very angry the other day reading about Imelda Munster breaking down into tears in the Dail about a young guy homeless on the street and giving her daughter money to give to him. The daughter then comes back and says that the teen said he was so cold and hungry. Why was it that she couldn’t or wouldn’t give the money to the teen herself? Why did she not call social services to get the teen indoors? Any teen under the age of 18 is automatically entitled to accommodation. Its 101 stuff that you learn when volunteering with the homeless services. Further to this, why did she not stay and have a chat with him, have a cuppa and hear his story and give him the sense of dignity and respect that is very rare on the street.
At the end of the day, homelessness is superficial symptom of something that goes much deeper. We need a multi-dimensional way of solving the issue rather then just relying on the superficial needs. If you really want to do something, next time you’re in the city centre, why not buy yourself and a homeless person a cuppa and lunch and take the time to talk to them. We are after all, human in every sense of the word.
What happened to the money that was raised
Why didn’t z person receive accommodation with the 150,000 raised???
The Journal is an ok news feed but the comments section is filled with vile people who use click bait comments that are insensitive and irrelevant to the many of the stories. Vile comments, I would like to see what these people look and act like in real life. From a social scientific perspective I would like to see their interactions with other humans.
So sad
Loads of homeless junkies about town today. Like zombies swaying side to side, blank, gaunt faces, eyes barely open.
One lad was face down on the concrete on O’Connell St, drooling away as families walk by.
Merry Christmas.
@Michael Cunningham: no doubt there are a lot of drug addicts on the street, but to tar all rough sleepers as such is just a dick move. You try to sleep in a door way or under some bad shelter for even one night, in the miserable Irish winter nights, having scrotes like you probably abusing you, pissing on you or kicking you in your cosy bed. Then be moved on at stupid o clock because the good people need to spend more money for Christmas. What can you do only wander aimlessly, wrecked tired and yeah….zombied. Happy Christmas to you, hope you and yours stay nice and warm this Christmas..
have your say