Last night
Mark writes:
At the forum on homelessness at the Department of Environment and Local Government HQ is protestor David Finn interrupting Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, Alen Kelly TD, media ‘doorstep’. David Finn claims the State and Local Council failed his father Noel who died after living homeless for seven-and-a-half years in Clondalkin.
Yesterday: Help Is On Its Way
(Mark Stedman/Photocall Ireland)
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The Examiner article is interesting. Alan Kelly seems to be handling it very well, if the comments by Christy Burke are anything to go by:
‘The Independent councillor said the message from the minister was not “spoofing” and the “most sincere” comments he has heard in 30 years in politics.’
http://www.irishexaminer.com/ireland/you-only-care-now-because-a-man-died-outside-the-daacuteil-301093.html
We’ll see, I suppose.
I guess no one’s allowed ask David why he and his family allowed their father live on the streets for 7 years? And does he not think that the family also failed him? There’s two important words missing from the debate here; personal responsibility. Let’s put these back in and have a robust debate then and only then.
+1
You might as well ask relatives of people with depression who die by suicide why they let their relatives die.
Because being a son/daughter/mother/father doesn’t make you a social worker or a psychiatrist or an addiction counsellor, that’s f*cking well why.
Imbecile.
+1 nice comment!
+2014
He also appears to be homeless. How could he help? Also the sign gives more detail about what happened. His dad seemed to want help but didn’t get it.
his da didn’t ‘live on the streets’, he was sofa-surfing.
You don’t know they didn’t, but most people wouldn’t want to impose on anyone even their family sleeping on a couch for seven years, maybe that was the case. Perhaps they were separated, you don’t know. Also people don’t always get on with their family, there could be many reasons why this man was homeless for so long. His family are also entitled to live their own lives, to expect people to expend all their energy for years going looking for a person or taking in a person when they may be short on room themselves is a bit ridiculous. It isn’t that young man’s responsibility to parent his parent as you’re suggesting. What kind of judgmental person are you, you know nothing about that family’s story.
Nor do you, as it happens. Just because the guy is holding up a sign doesn’t mean that what’s on it is true.
Precisely. It is also missing from the arguments used by most of the ball-achingly right on posters here, who will p*ss and moan on Broadsheet, then promptly go home/to the pub and forget all about the debate in question, their duty done.
This is in response to the personal responsibility remark by the way. No idea how it ended up halfway down the thread.
Mr Corrrie was gifted two houses by is parents and managed to lose them. Is Alan Kelly really to blame here?
He didnt lose them – he sold them… Good times
People who are homeless rarely have the sole problem of not having a house. Although I’d say the numbers of such people have massively increased recently.
people who are homeless rarely have the problem of having two nuisance houses to get rid of.
Also correct. But relevance?
The man’s death that sparked a nationwide hysteria about homelessness (not that we couldn’t do with hysteria on that topic, it certainly beats pantigate) was not due to homelessness. It was due to mental illness and substance abuse.
That is the relevant point.
Why didn’t you say that then?
I didn’t think i needed to spell out to the hard of thinking.
You jumped fairly fast to insults there don’t you think? Was the snark or the insult to my intelligence necessary? Why do it?
Sorry, I was in full on broadsheet mode and confused you with one of my many female admirers here.
Why would it be ok for you to jump straight to such insults for anyone?
Oh Don lives for that sort of thing.
Why are you bringing me into this? Can’t explain your own actions?
To be fair, he sold them for drug money or something. Services to help him with his addictions would have been more helpful in the long term maybe
Jeekers. That sounds like misplaced generosity, doesn’t it? Apparently he’d had drink and drug problems since he was 16.
this is the legislation defining homelessness and entitlements:
http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/1988/en/act/pub/0028/sec0002.html
and
http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/1988/en/act/pub/0028/sec0010.html
you’ll notice housing isn’t a right but shelter is. you’ll also notice that you can’t voluntarily make or keep yourself homeless.