A vigil this evening for John Corrie, the homeless man found dead yesterday morning, on Molesworth Street, Dublin. Taking part were staff members of Merchants Quay [homeless and drug services] (above).
Earlier: Look After Your Friends
UPDATE:
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I don’t understand the attention this is getting. We have a sad story of a lifelong addict dying on the streets. This is not an unusual occurrence.
http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/homeless-man-found-dead-in-phoenix-park-had-130k-in-bank-account-29803429.html
At Christmastime we let in black and white and we banish shade.
That sign’s in very poor taste and factually inaccurate. Enda and Joan are as responsible for ‘creating society’ as any citizen of Ireland. RIP.
The rhetoric is unhinged, but you’re fighting a losing battle against it. People are convulsed into idiocy as soon as the talk turns to politics.
It does seem to be the case, Alfred. Anger’s replaced reason in the public discourse.
If not unusual, did you have any reason for picking that example… at what point too does it become “not on unusual” / usual…. and is it not right that people wake up and act when it has become usual…. was there a point at all to your posting….’cause I’m lost…
You’re kiddin right? You don’t get it? You’re that slow?
Poor guy, now his memory has to suffer the ignominy of becoming a poster boy for the austerity generation.
I think the homeless need to march on the Dail, like how the anti water charges (yet Volvic, etc buying) crowd did. It seems to be the only way to change things these days
Hope his death was not in vain
This man had a place in a hostel that e chose not to take. He, while still needing much more help, did not need to march the 50m to the dail to look for more. He could have had a place in a warm room that may have saved his life.
Maybe he was making a statement (about the conditions of the have-nots), that ultimately went wrong. I mean, where better to do it.
But then again, I don’t know the man that well, do you?
Well, he has the answer so he must know everything.
haha, yes, thats exactly what he was doing. “making a statement”.
jesus wept.
Ah right, so I guess the public is going to move on from rape to homelessness as the new cause du jour? (If only we can blame this on SF somehow as well, we’d really be in business.) What are the chances of a half dozen editorials on homelessness followed by an FOT piece and maybe a pull out in the weekend papers that could double up as a mini shelter for one? Ah sure it’s all good click bait and it gives the mob a great opp to get up high on the moral high ground. I do love listening to the mob- they wouldn’t know what cognitive dissonance is if it hit them in the face.
Oh, the luxury and privilege of cynicism. You’re much to savvy to be taken in by all this! Meanwhile, charities and services hanging on by their fingernails may get some respite as a result, and homeless people may get help, which is more than your cynicism could.
Nigel, is there any sort of register of charities where we can find out how much is being spent on CEOs, expenses, etc? I think I remember something of the sort being discussed. What you say about charities hanging on by their fingernails is very convincing, but I’m sure I’m not the only one whose pockets were tightened by the Rehab business.
Wow, they just can’t win for losing, can they?
What do you mean?
I mean, a story comes along that galvanises attention on a particular problem. Sure, you can roll your eyes at the mechanics of it and shake your head at the short-term shallowness of our culture, but for a while some good may come out of that brief moment in the spotlight. Instead we have people who will deploy cynicism as if cynicism is the answer. We don’t feel all things at all times. We can’t hold all things in our heads and hearts simultaneously. It’s like that kid who got shot in Ferguson. You don’t get to pick and choose the thing that will become the focus through which attention will be trained on a larger issue that badly needs that attention. So you can encourage that attention on the larger issue while it lasts, or you can pick and gripe about the details surrounding the thing – or person. It won’t last long, it never does, and all those problems will still be there when the attention moves on. Let them seize the flipping day while the day is theirs. Tomorrow Enda’ll drop his phone on a child’s head and it’ll be the chance of head trauma victims to get their day, and you can scoff at people mocking Enda’s Nokia and mutter about dark rumours about the Head Trauma Industry.
That’s all true, and brilliantly put. I still wish there was a register of charities which said how much of the money goes to the cause and how much goes to the CEO. The searchlight of public attention may only light up the homeless for a day or two, but that doesn’t make it OK to shovel more lucre into Angela Kerins or equiv.
Can you trust charities any more. The CEO of the Simon community has his own daughter working for the charity. https://ie.linkedin.com/pub/dearbhla-mcguinness/21/a/521
Hardly has the CV for the job now.
You can trust no-one. Clearly if that’s anything to go by, all their good works are undone.
So an low level position at a charity, with an academic background in marketing and communications, with previous experience organizing fundraisers for the company itself isn’t qualified?
Funny, I see a person a person that went to drama school and has no work experience getting a job with daddy.
+1
I wonder how many people were interviewed for that job.
Did you spend 10 years in further education Banotti?
If you did, then you would be just as qualified as her. if not, maybe it’s time to consider a night course in advanced begrudgery.
“cause du jour” …the favourite phrase of those that can only do wan ting at a *bleaaaaaaaaaach* at a toime.
Funny that a week ago he didn’t have a single person in the country that cared about him… Now they are all out. Many probably walked past other homeless people on their way to placing flowers here.
Hypocrites, they’ve found a new hymn to sing…for now. Leave the man’s name in peace.
Yes, for God’s sake, bravely defend the homeless from receiving any extra aid or funding as a result of this brief media-cycle focus!
Unfortunately, mostly we’re all guilty of this. Easier to show grief when it’s too late than to make a difference when one can
Not sure how people will take this but I’ll let you know for what it’s worth.
I genuinely met this guy begging at the queue outside Zaytoon on Saturday night. He looked in poor shape, about 15 years older than his age. A country guy said he wouldnt’ give him money but that he would get him some food. He seemed happy enough at the idea and wanted a mixed kebab. The guy advised that it was busy and that it might take 20 minutes. He said to leave it then as he didn’t have the time. Now, it wasn’t said overly ungrateful as he probably had a plan for the night whatever it was.
Cool story, bro.
Given your track record on BS, if you told me the time, I’d ask for a second opinion.
a vigil for john? my fuppin ass it is, a vigil for malcontents more like . . .
You were there? It was extremely well behaved and the Simon Community had a large part to play. Well done everyone who attended and showed their respect.
I heard them on the radio this morning and it did appear some of the lines were well rehearsed.
The reality in this case is that this guy has the right in a free society to decline support. The only societies with no homelessness are totalitarian states, the sort our Trotskyite friends are so keen on.
Protests for additional funding for mental health I’d support. But that’s not a quick populist fix.
I work in the homeless sector and my mail box is full of ranters today. There’s one guy who berated my colleague over the phone while ‘advocating’ for a homeless person he knows, while we have no consent to talk about a homeless person to a third party. This guy is taking up my time when it needs to be spent getting people beds for the night. So for anyone thinking about taking all this out on frontline staff, please just p1ss off and let us do our jobs.
I passed the vigil earlier and al I heard was one Dub shouting about a “New World Order” over and over again. Nice of him to hijack a candlelit vigil.
Its very sad death, but a drug addict who refused shelter and subsequently died is not the best posterboy for the homeless crisis in Ireland.
+100
Anyone who used the phrase “Shame on You” generally has no shame
What an appalling thing to say, you utter prat.
that poster- ugh. So Joan and Enda “created this society” that has homeless people?
You don’t have to be a cynic to see the self indulgent posturing from the protesters; of course it’s now clear this man had a lot of problems and still turned down help but a-holes try to use his death to slander Joan and Enda. Just when you think the Gov are bad look across at the alternative. Morally Bankrupt too
If the government are to blame for every homeless person, are they also to credit for the millions of people not homeless?
I hate that “my success is my own, my failure is everyone else’s fault” attitude.
One of the great Irish songs:
http://youtu.be/pPUtdKdCP0I
“If a power were to lift him up
And make him rich, would he admit it was luck?
Or would he claim a state of grace
Just like the rich in this hateful place?”
The rest is horribly relevant too.
Yes. One is called doing their job, the other is failing at it abysmally.
Do you have some notes on those societies which didn’t have homeless people, so we can bring some facts to the stoning?
Do you have some notes about some reference I made to homeless-free societies or are you just casting stones?
You’ve been a little hard to parse recently, Nigel, but I took it that your reply to Kieran classified every homeless person as an abysmal government failure. If that’s what you mean, I’m not sure it stands up. There are homeless people everywhere, and always have been, and I’m not sure you can pin this terrible death to current government policy.
Oh, and I’m not casting stones, by the way. You’ve probably changed my mind about things more than any other commenter here.
Yes, Nigel *is* good at that.
Oh, sorry, no. It was just a counterpoint to his point really. Not every homeless person is a failure on the part of the government, but poor services and slow responses to a growing crisis is. Whether one can pin an individual’s bad-to-fatal situation on the government or not is a moot point, though I sympathise with those who find such rhetoric grating, if it brings the wider problem into the limelight, I’m willing to put up with the understandably emotional outbursts.
*Blush*
Ah, gotcha. Thanks. I think someone was pretty good about this earlier in warning that the rhetoric’s concentration on homelessness is wrongheaded. Rather than pressuring the government to open more shelters (or only to open more shelters) we should be making them think again about our stupid drug laws and our failure to provide for addicts.