79 thoughts on “Rough Night

  1. the good helen

    those children should be fast asleep in warm bed, not sleeping rough outside on a cold night, I’d actually give them a roof under our house if it were big enough, is there no one that can step up and give them a roof over their heads for a few nights? No point in putting them in a hostel with junkies and alcoholics as its going to scare those poor kids.

    1. St. John Smythe

      I’m sure the kids wouldn’t mind how big or small your house is. All three of them would be happy to sleep on the living room floor, its got to beat a park. Why not make contact today?

      1. the good helen

        its not how big my house is, it is that i have a child and our house is hardly big enough for us never mind 2 adults and 3 kids. And believe me i’d offer if I could. As would you i’m sure. Also, update on this temporary accomodation has been found for the family through ICHH.

    1. Mister Mister

      I don’t believe it’s completely factual for starters. And isn’t the vast majority of Fatima local authority housing, I don’t think you’d find too many privately owned properties there.

      1. Mr. T.

        Wise up and do your research and stop pretending this isn’t happening to make yourself feel better.

        Fatima was rebuilt as a mix of privately owned and council owned and mixed ownership housing over the last 10 years. So this family may have had a mortgage on a private house or apartment.

        1. Mister Mister

          And you also believe they got a knock on the door and turfed out onto the street too there and the n ?

          1. Mr. T.

            You know how it works. Court orders.

            Not everyone has a Daddy or siblings with money to bail them out of difficult situations.

            This is what happens when a cowardly government gets though on the vulnerable.

          2. Mister Mister

            I always have a good old chuckle when people like yourself assume that people are where they are, and think they way they do, because they got money handed to them.

            Bitter much ?

    2. Mani

      I dunno. I mean on the one hand Helen says she’d give them a room if she could and then when pressed seems a little iffy on the notion.

      1. the good helen

        mani, as I said, I would give them a room if I could (as in if I had a room to give them, as in IF I COULD), I have a child and wouldn’t like to see any kids, never mind 3 under the age of find sleeping rough on the streets. COP ON. keyboard warrior.

          1. Squiggleyjoop

            “If ‘ifs’ and ‘buts’ were candy and nuts then that’s what little boys are made of.”

    1. Jonotti

      Take the children into care and away from irresponsible parents that have them sleeping on the street unnecessarily.

      1. dereviled

        You’re starting to sound dangerously socialist Jonotti. Shouldn’t we be conservative and throw them crumbs so they don’t actually starve but die slowly of neglect?

      2. the good helen

        really, so they lose their home and they are irresponsible parents? would you cop on, so then not only do you lose your home but your kids are taken away. Alot of things are out of peoples controls. Losing jobs, family deaths, the list can go on mate, the family with 3 kids under 5 should not be homeless end of.

        1. Djizandapus

          You can put your hand down Don, most people stopped high fiving about that later that same afternoon.

  2. Jonotti

    Oh no, the big bad banks must have come in the nailer of the night without notice and pulled this family from their beds onto the streets. This must have been a bolt out of the blue to them and that explains why the have made no alternative living arrangements.

    1. Punches Pilot

      There’s a lightning bolt waiting on us all at some point. Touch more humility might not go astray in your case.

    2. Mani

      I, for one, fear this night nailer and hope that the gardai can put an end to him and his hammer of terror.

    3. Lorcan Nagle

      At this point I’m unsure if you genuinely believe the stuff you post on here, or are just doing it to get a rise.

      Either way, it says plenty about you.

      1. Jonotti

        My posts are nearly always genuine. I cannot stand these one sided sob stories that are heavily politicised. All of the recent big stories of this ilk have been completely discredited.

        1. Punches Pilot

          There were kids sleeping in a park. The rights and wrongs of politicised argument go out the window at that point irrespective

          1. Jonotti

            I don’t believe that anybody slept in a park. They want us to accept this as fact and I’m not willing to do so.

  3. Mic

    I feel I should comment on the number of overtly racist comments on that facebook post too. But then, why am I surprised?

      1. Mic

        I have a suspicion the poor family may not be Irish in any case. Where then does that leave the “look after our own” crowd?

  4. phil

    Is that what happens when wages and pensions eat up budgets in the Governemnt sector, leaving no money to actually provide services?

    All this union talk about ‘pay restoration’ in the public sector makes me very uncomfortable when I read stories like this…

    And no Im not bashing PS, this is something that should be discussed…

    1. Punches Pilot

      Ever generation since the foundation of this state have said the very same thing. It will never change.

  5. Randy Ewing

    Those terrible banks ! Shocking stuff.
    Why didn’t the banks give them some warning that not repaying their loan might result in this or not even arrange them a place with friends or families to stay, disgraceful banks, they surely should all be shut down, their employees sacked and premises turned into shelters !

    1. Punches Pilot

      “they surely should all be shut down, their employees sacked and premises turned into shelters”

      Not a bad idea actually :-)

    2. ethereal_myst

      Assuming that they are the people who had a mortgage out on the property. There are a lot of people are in rented accommodation paying their rent but the landlords are not paying the mortgage, they have no control on that and generally don’t fine out until it is too late.

      1. ollie

        So, bank initiates repossession proceedings against landlord. He/she continues to keep the rental income and doesn’t inform the tenants. The first the tenant knows is when he/she’s evicted.

        Good old Ireland, unemployment on the rise, nationl debt on the rise, evictions on the rise but don’t worry because Edna wants to hang around for another 8 years!!

  6. jungleman

    Not sure I buy much of this story. Reminds me of the one about that woman who moved into her car with her kids.

    Also, it should be a crime to say “there” instead of “their” more than once in a paragraph.

  7. fluffybiscuits

    The commune in Bolt Hostel is teh way forward

    Would it be worth the govts while giving tax relief to people who give a room for free to people whom are homeless, a temporary measure coming into winter to get people off the streets?

    1. dereviled

      Jonotti is witty and engaging.
      Have you ever seen ‘One Man and His Dog’?
      We are the sheep and we secretly enjoy it.

  8. Mr. T.

    For all those white Irish comfortable types sneering at the misfortune of a family living in a city centre park:

    It doesn’t really matter how they got to that point. The problem here is that there is no emergency accommodation for them.

    You should be concerned that this is happening in your city, a modern European capital.

    Cheerleading cuts in social welfare, health services, repossession of homes by banks, etc all lead to situations like this where the least well off or those caught in circumstances beyond any reasonable control are left out to dry by the state.

    Good citizens show compassion for others during difficult times. If you don’t, you don’t deserve to have compassion shown to you by anyone, including your own family.

    1. Seriously

      I think a lot of people do have sympathy for the family but this article is so horribly written, it has all the hallmarks of clickbait and when your average Joe reads it, it leaves them confused about who to be angry at!

  9. Bort

    Some of these stories are a bit fishy, during the council credit card crisis last week one anecdotal story was repeated by the council on many radio stations. A family with two small children, came to them seeking emergency accommodation, because the card was maxed they couldn’t get a hotel room or equivelant for them anywhere and the family had to sleep in some industrial unit. They said the family had “lost their home” because their landlord sold the house. They would have had at least 3 months notice possibly more before they had to vacate their home and what about the rent money they would have had to have to pay the next months rent? It’s sad state of affairs that a family in this country wouldn’t have friends or relatives they couldn’t go to even short term, even parents of school friends to take the kids. But sure why would you when you can roll down to the council and demand a hotel room. I do realise that this can be the case, my mother used to work in the Women’s Refuge in Rathmines and would often take in mothers and their children into our house when the shelter was full. But these here say stories without facts like the one above don’t help anyone’s cause and only divides people. I think we’d all be better off knowing the full facts of the situation. when you have these “woman forced to live with family in car” stories come out and that the woman was taking the p1ss it only seeks to lessen the severity of other peoples situations.

  10. ollie

    Bort, why would they get 3 months notice? Landlord stops paying mortgage, bank official turn up and evict tenants with no notice.
    It’s happening in Ireland every day.
    In any event, the only option for a homeless family is a wait ing list for a hotel room or the kindness of friends or family. This is no way for a society to function.

    1. Mister Mister

      It doesn’t just happen like that everyday. A notice of intention to repossess is posted to the door of the house months in advance.

      A family we know found themselves in such a situation, was told the landlord wasn’t paying the mortgage and they have X amount of time left in the house. No drama, they went looking elsewhere and found one just around the corner from where they were previously.

      1. Bort

        Even if this happens they would have been paying rent so you would think they still had some money to spend on temporary accommodation?

  11. Fergus the magic postman

    I’m never one to wish ill on anyone. However in this case I make an exceptioon, & I genuinely hope that if a period of darkness/ despair/ helplessness come the direction of you Jonotti, or you Mister Mister, that you receive no more than the same levels of compassion that you display here, not just now, but all too often.

    1. Jonotti

      You’d love that wouldn’t you. To see me on the scrap heap begging for help. I will never need any of help or have some damascene conversion. My limited humanity has taken me near the top and I’m only heading upwards. Actually that’s not true. I have some humanity but it’s rational cynicism that has made me.
      This story stinks buy rather than abuse me why not reach out and give this family a few grand yourself.

    2. Mister Mister

      You’re the one with problems if you think I wish ill of anyone.

      I’m just questioning what the full facts are. You should try it sometime.

      1. Fergus the magic postman

        I didn’t say you wish ill of anyone. I said that I hope in your time of need you get the same amount of compassion that you seem to display here. If you think you’re showing a fair amount of compassion, well then you shouldn’t have a problem.

    1. Jonotti

      She was probably having a nice summer camp with her son. Illegally so but not the biggest crime in the world spending quality time with your teenager.

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