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ALAN* SPENT OVER three years living on the streets of Dublin.
He had worked in construction in the past, but when the recession hit Ireland near the end of the last decade, Alan found himself out of work.
He started drinking and after a while he got himself into drugs. From there, he eventually found himself homeless.
“Life on the streets was tough,” said Alan.
“You had your whole life in a little bag and nothing to do and nowhere to go all day.
Alan said the worst times he experienced while homeless was when people spat on him when he slept in a doorway.
“You wouldn’t treat a dog like that,” he said.
I can’t understand how you could treat another person with no respect at all.
Other times, he said it was the kind way people treated him that kept him going at his lowest points.
“I remember one Christmas Eve this woman started talking to me, asking me how I was,” he said.
“She then went off and bought me a brand new jacket and blanket to keep me warm.”
I don’t want to seem soft but I felt like crying. It was a great lift to see someone cared and took the time to treat me like a person.
Focus Ireland report
Alan’s story is highlighted in the 2015 annual report for homeless charity Focus Ireland, which was launched today.
Focus Ireland provides supports and services for homeless people around Ireland. It works closely with the Dublin Regional Homeless Executive (DRHE) and other charities to provide accommodation, outreach, and many other services for homeless people.
The charity reported a 9% rise in the number of people its services helped last year.
It supported over 12,500 who were homeless or at risk in 2015 (up from 11,500 in 2014).
Focus Ireland’s report points out that 2015 was the worst year ever for family homelessness in Ireland.
The number of families becoming homeless rose from an average of 34 per month in 2014 to an average of 62 per month in 2015.
As well as this, the total number of families living in emergency accommodation rose from 407 in December 2014 to 775 at the end of last year.
The report also points out that one out of every three homeless people last year was a child.
New housing
Speaking at the launch of the report, chairperson of Focus Ireland Gerry Danaher announced that the charity would be providing 600 new homes by 2019 to help tackle the growing issue of homelessness.
Focus said it hopes to provide 150 homes over the next four years in order to double its current housing stock.
“We all know that affordable housing supply is at the heart of the homeless crisis that blights the lives of so many,” said Danaher.
“Focus Ireland has repeatedly called on the Minister and his predecessors to take the necessary action to tackle this crisis.”
Danaher mentioned the Housing Action Plan which was announced last month by government, saying that there was little in it to cut the number of families losing their homes.
“Focus Ireland and the Dublin Regional Homeless Executive are supporting more families out of homelessness than ever before,” said Dannaher.
But we cannot keep pace with the deepening crisis as 90 families have become homeless every month so far this year, compared with 60 a month last year.
Latest figures
Latest figures show that 599 families and 1,202 children have become homeless in the first seven months of the year.
There were 2,020 children within 993 families in emergency accommodation in the capital last month.
Also speaking at the launch today, Sister Stanislaus Kennedy, who founded Focus in 1985, called on the government to properly address the growing issue of family and child homelessness.
“It must be clear to everyone that the risks we are dealing with now are completely different because hundreds of children are involved,” said Sr Stan.
She said that a national directive should be issued to prevent any family being left without an offer of emergency accommodation or put at risk of having to sleeping rough.
“If this situation is not addressed immediately I fear we will see families with children being forced to spend a night on our streets,” she said.
Alan’s story
Alan, whose story was highlighted in the annual report, said that the Focus Ireland Coffee Shop in Temple Bar had given him the help he needed to get off the streets.
‘They really listened to me and helped get me somewhere safe to stay and then after another while I got into a Focus Ireland housing programme,” he said.
Form there, Alan eventually got his own house through the charity, a monebt he described as the best in his life.
“It is great to be able to turn the key and walk into your own place,” said Alan.
“I have to pinch myself sometimes when I see where I am and how much better my life is now.
A lot of people see someone sleeping rough on the street and think they are lost causes, but I think my story shows that nobody is a lost cause and that when you have the right support you can turn your life around.
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Reminds me of the Simpsons episode where the school are shredding mats to be used as meat in the cafeteria
Sorry for going off-topic but I have to ask you- how do you pronounce your name Ste? Is it ‘stuh’, or ‘stee’, or ‘stay’? Puzzled me for years.
Pronounced like “Stee”.
‘Ste’, I believe that is German for ‘a whales vagina’, is it not?
There’s no way that’s true.
Sorry Emmet think you’re confusing that with “San Deigo”.
*Diego
No its horse vagina with no horse
There’s more to life than being grealy grealy grealy ridiculously good looking.
Ste classy San Diego!
Ste is Latin for “darkness of an open ringpiece”
I think your pulling our legs Justin
It feels a lot better bein an unemployed musician than an unemployed pipe fitter..
Depends on where your fitting the ‘pipe’
This comment thread is turning into an acid trip.
I have discovered that my wife has no brain or heart, should I be entitled to a refund or exchange in this circumstance as I feel that I have been mislead and feel that these items should have been included
That’s kind of worse.
Horseradish
But it’s only radish!
not if your a vegetarian. :-)
But if you are not, and you want to eat meat, and youre paying for meat, your rights are being infringed upon
@ MK, if your’e a veggie, why buy meat pie?
@ Tony Duff. I am a veggie and would of course buy this meat pie with no meat, hence being a veggie QED ;0)
When are they going to discover vegetarian pies with just meat in them?
Some kind of vegetable matter ….. Feck that sounds worse
That’s why vegetarians go to Iceland
There has never been any ham in hamburgers
I couldn’t figure this one out for years – about there being no ham in a hamburger.
…until a friend was kind enough to tell me that burgers were invented in Hamburg.
Nope… They were invented in america by a man from hamburg
Is that not the same thing?
I didn’t read the america bit properly – Saturday night, a few pints on!
They were invented in Hamburg, New York
It’s the vegetarian beef pie they tested.
Alan’s fact of the day: “Crabsticks” do not actually contain any crab and from 1993 manufacturers have been legally obliged to label them “Crab flavoured sticks”.
You mean Surimi?
I have to say that brought a chuckle………
Iceland gets their first bite of a minced pie and it leaves them stumped. I remember my first minced pie I had at Christmas many years ago, I think they’ll soon discover its mostly raisins ;)
The history of the minced pie is interesting – In the 16th century, the royalty ate mince pies with minced beef – the proper stuff!
The kitchen staff would make pies with leftover fruit and spices and gave these “mince pies” to the peasants at Christmas as a good will gesture.
Now we’re in the 21st century and the rich [i.e. supermarkets] are at it again, except this time we, the peasants, are paying for the the deception.
The horse left Iceland for France.
But who took them?
The bloke on that radio ad., obviously!
;-)
The head of Iceland will probably say “that’s the Irish for you….”
Maybe Gerry and SF did it?
Im boycotting eating
One thing that does stand out for me almost as a footnote to the article is that it has been handed over to authorities, no doubt whoever is responsible will be held accountable and be brought before the courts. Any chance of that here, well probably not because no doubt it would upset the wrong people.
That’s Iceland for ya, they locked up the bankers, toppled their government and regulator. Kicked the FBI out of their country for interrogating a wiki leaks informant.
A bit of a mix up with their food that will be sorted, person who is responsible found out and suffering the consequence by the end of the week.
In ireland we have bankers without banks whats the problem
Ill have one of those please and an alcohol free beer to wash it down!!
We have digressed to groundshit day
I’d imagine a lot of the vegetable matter would be soy, just like in a lot of dog foods the “meaty” chunks are actually soy not meat!
That’s a relief!
not surprised – with all the 1€ crap their always selling.
This is Iceland the country, not the frozen food chain.
That would be a vegetarian matter, Ted.
Where’s the beef?
At the end of the dole queue. They got there ahead of the horses
I dont get it
what next? chicken in chicken nuggets?
Where can I buy one?….seems to be the only safe thing to eat at present….
in iceland they sell horse meat labelled as horse meat in the market
“Vegetable matter”. That’s a great name for we don’t have a clue what it is
Ah sure I got mince pies at Christmas and all they had in them was fruit.
You are all stone mad, thanks for the giggles reading this thread
LOL
Maybe there are no horses left in Iceland, they were all sent to the rest of Europe for our pies…
For years in Ireland, we have pork-free Bacon Fries,and fish-free Scampi Fries, not to mention Tayto & Walkers “cheese & onion” crisps with Paprica & Garlic – only King don’t have these
E119 flavour please
Yes – E119 is a standard in the Building Industry for Fire Resistance!
You eating too much horse!
Could be worse it could be a Puffin pie they eat them there too as well as Icelandic foal steaks there a delicacy
have your say