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ONE OF DUBLIN’s oldest charities has been forced to suspend its Sunday morning breakfast service – due to a number of violent incidents.
Manager of Mendicity Charles Richards said they would be keeping the decision under review – and that Monday to Saturday services remained unaffected.
“Most of the people who come to us – we would know them, we would know them by name, very often,” Richards said.
People using the service tend to be older Irish men – and groups of non-Irish nationals.
However – on Sunday 19 April, a group of young men arrived at their centre, on Island Street in Dublin 8 “roaring and shouting,” Richards said.
Chaos broke out inside the centre as volunteer staff attempted to quell the situation.
Outside, fights broke out – and bottles were thrown.
It was a shock for our staff, but they just tried to deal with it as best they could.
The men were Irish and aged in their 20s – and none of the staff on duty at the time recognised them, according to Richards.
A few weeks previously, there was another incident – as a man was pursued into the kitchen by a group of men, who were shouting and claiming he was a “rapist,” Richards said.
Once again the situation was dealt with by staff – who managed to clear the kitchen, and carry on with their duties.
In addition to Richards, two paid kitchen staff prepare meals at ‘The Mendo’. Volunteers look after front-of-house, at the centre – serving people ‘no questions asked’.
Upsurge in violence
A number of violent incidents among Dublin’s homeless community have made the headlines in recent weeks.
Merchants Quay day service was forced to close its doors for several days at the start of the month, after a number of attacks on staff.
And two weeks ago, a young volunteer had hot tea thrown in her face, as she attempted to help rough sleepers outside the GPO.
TheJournal.ie / Twitter'Hugely worrying' upsurge in violence among Dublin rough-sleepers, says leading campaigner: http://t.co/p9CPTziSLP
— TheJournal.ie (@thejournal_ie) May 16, 2015
Tony Duffin of the Ana Liffey Drug Project, speaking to TheJournal.ie last week, said there had been a worrying upsurge in violent incidents among Dublin’s rough sleepers since the start of the month.
Duffin said outreach staff at his organisation experienced such peaks intermittently, and spoke of a similar upsurge around two years ago.
Similarly, Richards said there had been problems “for four weeks in a row last March” and noted that there appeared to be “high levels of nervous energy” on the streets of the capital at the moment.
Note: Mendicity, Dublin’s second oldest charity, was established in 1818. They’re happy to accept donations at their website.
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Some bouncers should volunteer their services or few gardai should be put outside in squad car. Little bs trying to wreck the small thing homeless have! Arrest them and make them clean our canals.
These men should be taken aside and given therapy and their social welfare should be doubled.
It’s the only way these socially victimised chaps should be treated.
Call these 20s for what they are. They are drug-ridden rough sleepers. However it will probably take some deaths to wake up society to the fact. There are many “decent” rough sleepers who have simply fallen on hard times and are now being terrorised by the druggies who have no conscience at all. The charities trying to help out with the basics are being exposed to constant danger while “official “Ireland turns the blind eye. The helper at the GPO had hot tea thrown in her face. Was the sleeper thug arrested? Probably not.
Who is surprised, this is normal behaviour for the druggies and drunks who constitute the vast majority of rough sleepers on Dublin’s streets. Let’s stop pretending. If you believe differently invite a street bum to live in your spare room.
Interesting that multiculturalism has now reached the homeless shelters too.
What a great little (naive) country we have.
Wheres all the gardai !
Installing water metres!
Wouldn’t need them at the installations if people weren’t threatening and abusing the installers. Just don’t pay the bill if you want to protest. Don’t abuse people doing a days work.
have your say