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“I FEEL LIKE I’m a burglar here more so than anything.”
After 14 years on the streets, Martin Hart’s natural reaction to being shown a small but perfectly-formed apartment that could – should he choose – become his home is to be overwhelmed. Possibly incredulous. But certainly honest.
Photographer Donal Moloney has previously charted Martin’s life as a homeless man in Dublin in his award-winning short film Martin.
In this follow-up, we learn that Martin has come to the attention of the Housing First team. TheJournal.ie has highlighted the work of this service – overseen by Focus Ireland and the Peter McVerry Trust – which has as its objective to transition people from living on the streets into homes of their own. The approach is 360, including health professionals, property manager, outreach workers, among others, with the aim to make the transition long-term and sustainable.
Donal, who has developed a relationship of trust and friendship over the four years he has known Martin, tells the next chapter in the story:
“Martin’s life had been threatened a number of times by a local thug and I had reported it to the police. Martin avoids confrontation at all times and in the four years I’ve known him, I’ve yet to even hear him curse.
“One morning I arrived to find him in his sleeping bag with all his belongings missing. I asked where his stuff was and he told me that the thug had returned and took everything. Not only that but he took Martin’s shoes and had been lying in the sleeping bag for two days without being able to go anywhere.
“During my conversation I noticed he was perusing a number of photos of an apartment. I asked him what they were and he said that, ‘Sean dropped them by,’ and that there was an offer of an apartment. I said, ‘That’s fantastic!’
‘I declined,’ said Martin. ‘I’m quite happy here.’ I couldn’t believe it and to make matters worse, the apartment had to be occupied by the weekend or it was gone.
“Martin had been offered accommodation in the past but refused. I walked away that day desperately trying to think how I might change his mind. He’s not getting any younger, his life is under threat and the harsh living will eventually catch up with him.
“I went home and had a notion. What if I contacted this guy ‘Sean’ and had a chat? Sean told me that Martin was not for turning and he had tried. I asked Sean to meet me under the bridge at 11am on Thursday morning and pretend we had never met. Maybe my powers of persuasion and Sean’s outstanding offer might at least have him take a look at the apartment.
“Thursday came and I arrived first at the bridge. It had happened again. Martin had his all new stuff stolen again by the junkie and was shoeless.
“Sean arrived and I said, ‘Nice to meet you. Guess what? Martin has been robbed again.’ Sean played it cool and I then looked at Martin and said, ‘You know what you want, Martin?’
‘What,’ he said.’A fucking apartment,’ I replied. ‘You cannot go on like this. Won’t you at least have a look at the apartment that’s being offered and then make a decision?’
“Sean basically repeated what I had just said and there was a long pause.
“‘Ok,’ he replied.
“On 23 September, 2016, this happened.”
[Editor's note: Donal waited a year to publish this video in order to give Martin to settle into his new life. He's happy to report that Martin is extremely houseproud and the two men regularly meet up as friends.]
Please watch:
Donal Moloney / Vimeo
Donal writes:
“If you’ve been affected by any of the issues raised or if you’d like to donate, please contact the PMV Trust or Focus Ireland.”
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Glad I don’t know anything about utorrent, vpn and peer blocker.
@B9xiRspG: I also don’t know what Usenet is, it might be safer than torrents but I don’t know anything.
@purple rain: I don’t know what a tracker mortgage is.
@Drew P. Baulsach: neither do the banks
@Ian Shannon: brilliant comment.
Stop ripping people off and they won’t pirate. Simple.
Greatest things that have encouraged people not to pirate have been Netflix and Spotify. All they had to do was provide entertainment for a reasonable amount instead of at an absurd mark up and suddenly people were more than happy to pay for it.
Meanwhile I’m gonna continue my practice of paying for stuff that’s reasonably priced but streaming stuff I’d never switch to Sky (and have to buy a satellite dish for) in a million years coz they hold it ransom on Atlantic.
Also; who in the ever-loving still downloads. Stream away!!!
@Bryan Kelly:
download a movie and in two years time buy the dvd for 3 euro……..conscience sorted.
@Bryan Kelly: You could add Steam for gaming to that list as well. There is certainly a point of price and convenience where most people will pay rather than torrent.
@Bryan Kelly: Don’t know why anyone would stream tbh, you need fibre optic to stream decent quality, amaze me people stream crap quality content and then buy 4K TVs to stream it on lol
@Bryan Kelly: well said
@Philip Mckenna: Get onto your TD about that high speed they promised the whole country and have now pushed back a couple decades.
No problem up here.
4K TV? Oooh look at me the millionaire!
@Philip Mckenna: ive a bog standard 100 mb connection and stream in 1080p perfectly so not sure what you mean
@Rochelle: Steam right? You’ve got EA releasing games where you don’t even get the full game and have to pay extra for it as DLC. Or remember that whole No Man’s Sky scam? And they wonder why sales are down…
You wouldn’t steal a car. True, but if I could download one…
@Dave Malone: 3D printing?
@Fake Avast: They’re also replicating guitars (and everything else). Gladly a few people here were caught by sub standard materials and tradesmanship. €2500 guitar for €250 euro delivered. Alarm bells!
It’s a victimless crime, like punching someone in the dark.
@Professor Goodfeels: and a victimless crime is??? Not a crime.
@Tom Phelan: yawn
@Fake Avast: or he’s quoting The Simpsons
Insurance Companies have been streaming the entire population for years…
@Tomas: Thats allowed in ireland
Excellent article Rónàn. I’m still none the wiser if I’m breaking the law, but it appears Ray Foley is talking bollox. Nothing new there.
Can i still be a priest
Beats paying the ridiculous cinema prices
Mad what can be achieved on the line today
So the article says ‘without permission or without paying’ How do I know if I have permission? I once went through a no unauthorised entry sign…got stopped and told the security guard that I got authorised by my mother (sitting in the seat beside me). So who do I get authorised by and how do I know they are actually the person to grant authority? As regards paying….so my payment to help run a website I download a movie from….that is payment, right?
Anyone else think this article could have been shortened? A bit repetitive.
As for IPTV (get on it)… Guilty!!!!
Very good article
‘What people mightn’t realise is that by streaming illegal content, a user’s computer is still making a copy of it, even if that copy is temporary in nature and stored on the computer’s cache.’
That’s not always true. And is a misrepresentation of cache.
What if someone was an avid cinema goer and Blu-ray collector that tried out a few downloads that they received to see of they wanted to experience it in the cinema? Does European law not dictate we must receive a service before we pay for it? Or somerhing along those lines!
If the eejits who own the movies started releasing them online themselves for a small fee the peer to peer industry would evaporate over night.
Think Netflix for cinema releases !
All the big major companies were caught of guard with the net, it came on so quickly and it 2 late now lol, I see there clamping down on YouTube n a big way ,that’s a great example of how they were caught unawares,stuff u could watch for free on YouTube until while back was brilliant
We are forced by law to pay for a TV license. That fee goes to pay for movies and shows on telly from America. We can record them and watch them whenever we want. Why should we not be able to download or stream those same shows as having a copy to watch at home which we already pay for and is legal and basically is the same thing.
have your say