At Leeson Street Bridge [Updated]

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Further to a homeless man suffering life-changing injuries while his tent was being removed from along the Grand Canal near Leeson Street Bridge in Dublin yesterday at around lunchtime….

Dublin City Council and Waterways Ireland have released statements.

At 11.16am today, Dublin City Council released a statement saying:

An incident occurred yesterday, 14th January, 2020, involving a homeless man on the Grand Canal during a process where Waterways Ireland were removing tents that were placed in a precarious and dangerous location.

An individual was injured during the process and was taken to hospital. The Dublin Regional Homeless Executive is currently liaising with the hospital and every support is being provided.

Our thoughts are with the man at this time.

The Executive has been engaging with the individual for some time and accommodation remains available to him.

Every action that is taken by state services is taken in the interest of health and safety of those individuals experiencing homelessness.

The matter is currently being investigated by the Gardai and there will be no further comment.

Just before 12 noon, on Today With Seán O’Rourke, Mr O’Rourke read out a statement that RTÉ received from Waterways Ireland.

Reading the statement, Mr O’Rourke said:

“Dublin Regional Homeless Executive, the DRHE, work collaboratively with Waterways Ireland to remove tents along the canals in Dublin where they’ve become a public safety hazard.

The process is initiated by DRHE with the homeless person and it’s only when that negotiation is complete and arrangements made that Waterways Ireland is contacted to remove the temporary accommodation on the canal bank.

“Under our by-laws, Waterways Ireland is required to maintain safe the canals and waterways.

“On the 14th of January, yesterday, an incident occurred at Leeson Street on the Grand Canal.

“A Garda investigation has been launched and Waterways Ireland is co-operating fully.

“While that investigation is ongoing, Waterways Ireland is obliged not to comment further.”

When Broadsheet contacted Waterways Ireland for this statement, it sent out a different statement.

The statement sent to us states:

“Waterways Ireland and Dublin City Council/Dublin Regional Homeless Executive work in co-operation to remove tents along the canals in Dublin where they have become a public safety hazard.

On the 14th January an incident occurred at Leeson Street, on the Grand Canal. Our thoughts are very much with the individual who was injured.

A Garda investigation has been launched and Waterways Ireland is co-operating fully.

While that investigation is ongoing Waterways Ireland is obliged to not comment further.”

EARLIER:

Yesterday around lunchtime.

A homeless man was sleeping in a tent near Leeson Street Bridge along the Grand Canal in Dublin when he suffered “life-changing injuries”.

Dublin City Council and Waterways Ireland were clearing tents from the area when the incident happened.

A Garda spokesman has said the man is currently in St Vincent’s Hospital where he remains in “serious condition but stable”.

This morning, RTÉ’s Dublin Correspondent John Kilraine spoke to Audrey Carville about what happened.

From their discussion:

Audrey Carville: “John this was a man who doesn’t have a permanent home. He was living in a tent. Can you just take us through what happened?”

John Kilraine: “Well it seems that Dublin City Council in conjunction with Waterways Ireland were taking part in what they call a clearing operation. This is an ongoing thing that they are trying to stop these tent encampments of homeless people that have been springing up around the city.

“Obviously they were unaware that one of the tents, there was a homeless person still in there. This happened around lunchtime yesterday, near Leeson Street Bridge.

“An industrial vehicle was being used to clear the tents. When it became known that there was someone there, he was taken to hospital, to St Vincent’s Hospital. It’s understood he’s undergone surgery, is in a serious condition and has suffered life-changing injuries.”

Carville: “And has the council or Waterways Ireland said anything about this?”

Kilraine: “We’ve put in a query to a number of agencies including Dublin City Council. We do know that the issues of these tent encampments has been an ongoing issue for a number of years. The Dublin Regional Homeless Executive are not in favour of giving tents to homeless people.

“They will give out sleeping bags. All the charities that work with them will give out sleeping bags and not tents which they say pose particular problems.

We’ve had encampments of up to 15 tents up in Drumcondra, on the Royal Canal and there’s a lot of complaints then from residents about what subsequently happens then.

“You have a lot of problems with anti-social behaviour and other people getting attracted into the area. That’s an issue that has been going on for a number of years there.

“It also tends to present particular difficulties for the homeless agencies trying to get in contact with homeless people in that they can’t, they don’t know if they’re awake, or they can’t disturb them while they’re in the tents.”

Carville: “Yes I remember, I think it was last year, one of our reporters on Morning Ireland spoke to some of the men who live in tents and I think they said they do it because they feel safer and they prefer their own company to, perhaps, the crowded conditions of hostels?”

Kilraine: “Well that’s the ongoing thing, an ongoing problem is that people do not want to sleep, particularly in one-night only hostels, basically because of robberty, drug-taking and aggression.

“A lot of these hostels are low-threshold hostels where they’re just trying to provide a roof for the night for people who might be taking drugs or who might be intoxicated. So. But this will cause problems and that’s basically what the issues are. Robbery is the big problem followed by drug-taking and aggression that they get in these hostels.

“There are moves now to make what they call Standard Temporary Accommodation – STAs – where people get six months. They get their own bed, that they can come and go…”

Carville: “Ok.”

Kilraine: “And they’re trying to get more and more of those facilities rolled out.”

Carville: “Ok. Well our thoughts with this poor man this morning. Thank you very much indeed, John Kilraine, our Dublin Correspondent.”

Dublin City Council have since released a statement, saying:

“An incident occurred yesterday, 14th January, 2020, involving a homeless man on the Grand Canal during a process where Waterways Ireland were removing tents that were placed in a precarious and dangerous location.

An individual was injured during the process and was taken to hospital. The Dublin Regional Homeless Executive is currently liaising with the hospital and every support is being provided.

Our thoughts are with the man at this time.

The Executive has been engaging with the individual for some time and accommodation remains available to him.

Every action that is taken by state services is taken in the interest of health and safety of those individuals experiencing homelessness.

The matter is currently being investigated by the Gardai and there will be no further comment.”

Waterways Ireland have released the following statement:

“Waterways Ireland and Dublin City Council/Dublin Regional Homeless Executive work in co-operation to remove tents along the canals in Dublin where they have become a public safety hazard.

“On the 14th January an incident occurred at Leeson Street, on the Grand Canal. Our thoughts are very much with the individual who was injured.

A Garda investigation has been launched and Waterways Ireland is co-operating fully. While that investigation is ongoing Waterways Ireland is obliged to not comment further.”

Meanwhile…

Last night, homeless charity Feed Our Homeless claimed that a homeless man had been found dead near the Leeson Street Bridge area along the Royal [sic] Canal.

The charity spoke of the man’s “mannerly” and “respectful” attitude shown towards the charity’s outreach team.

One media outlet reported that it had been confirmed the man’s remains were taken to the city morgue.

However media reports about this alleged death have since been deleted.

A Garda spokesman told Broadsheet:

“We received no reports of a death. There seems to have been some confusion in the media that seemed to suggest two separate incidents.”

Listen back to the Morning Ireland item in full here

EARLIER:

Last night.

Leeson Street Bridge, Dublin.

A man, reportedly in his 40s, was found dead next to a bench he had been sleeping on for at least two months.

Homeless charity Feed Our Homeless writes:

The management here at FOH [Feed Our Homeless] would like to send our condolances to the family and friends of the homeless man who lost his life to the streets on the Royal Canal earlier today.

This man was very manerly also very respectful towards all the FOH outreach team when we would engage with him each night offering him emergency supplies to get through the night.

Founder Chief Executive of the Feed Our Homeless charity Tony Walsh comments: “This is very sad to hear of another life lost to the streets this evening.

“There are far too many homeless sleeping rough on our streets at night in bitter cold conditions. A lot more must be done to help reduce the numbers of people who are experiencing homelessness and who are sleeping rough on our streets in unacceptable conditions.

“I’m calling on Dublin City Council also the relevant authorities to carry out a full overhaul of all state funded emergency hostels around the city and to ensure hostels are made safer at night to encourage people who are experiencing homelessness also who sleeping rough on the streets take up the emergency beds, as the streets are simply not a safe place to be sleeping.”

Feed Our Homeless (Facebook)

Homeless man found dead beside bench in Dublin he had slept on for over two months (The Irish Mirror)

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152 thoughts on “At Leeson Street Bridge [Updated]

        1. $hifty

          “No…..it’s the blueshirts’ fault….even when it was the bears I knew it was the blueshirts….Leo must pay for this thing over which he had zero control or influence”

          /s

          1. dav

            remind me who is in charge of the government?? I know it must be confusing given the lack of leadership shown over the past few years..

          2. Dr.Fart

            shifty thinks no one is responsible for anything. FG really like mouth breathers like shifty, who eat up and repeat what they’re told.

    1. Patrick Harding

      I have every sympathy for the homeless man who was seriously injured by an employee of Dublin City Council. Indeed I sympathise for the employee who caused the accident, I’m sure that person feels horrible over what happened.

      Naturally, the usual suspects on Twitter and here are trying to make political capital out of this accident, which in itself is reprehensible (they won’t admit it of course, but they know it) Some of the invective being thrown around is shallow and mindless.

      I’ll wager that even if there’s a change of government, there’ll still be a housing, homeless and hospital crisis in 5 years time, and the next ministers for housing and health will be getting it in the jaw.

      As someone who lives in the Dublin Bay South, I’m still going to vote for Eoghan Murphy, I rather him than that clown Jim O’Callaghan.

      By the way I’m not politically affiliated, before the usual nutters shout “Blueshirt”, which seems their stock answer to everything?

      1. Enn

        I can appreciate where you are coming from but I think you are missing an aspect of this story. It’s obviously become a policy of DCC/WI to clear the canals of tents because they are visible evidence of homelessness, or of squatting etc., and a policy of clearance rather than outreach indicates the idea is to wipe away this visible evidence, not to engage, nor even to look at legally compelling people to leave etc. This is, by anyone’s standards, callous.

        I walk to the train station via the canal every day and despite requests from many people obliged to share this route (Ashtown/Broombridge), WI have never [a] installed streetlights to make it safer for us or [b] filled into the huge potholes that flood and make the towpath dangerous for us. So they would appear to prioritise shifting tents over making a byway safe for commuters, which says a lot.

        Finally, the individual who decided to turn a JCB on this tent without checking does, I am afraid, have a case to answer. It’s basic common sense and, although we should keep an open mind, potentially a callous thing to do. Whether or not it occurred to this person that somebody might be in the tent, they decided to clear away what was demonstrably somebody’s form of shelter as ‘trash’ or follow orders to do the same. This, by anyone’s standards, is callous.

        1. Nigel

          I don’t know how these work gangs operate, but even if it was supposed to be someone else’s responsibility to make sure the tents were empty, the operator shouldn’t have been running over tents if they weren’t satisfied they’d been properly checked first.

        2. Kevin

          Cleared like garbage not a human
          And that is the reality
          The driver of the industrial equipment must be treated like all involved in road accidents

      2. phil

        @Patrick , Ask Murphy about its thoughts on extending medical cannabis to people with autoimmune diseases , and then after he refers you to Kate come back here and tell us who you will be voting for …

      3. BobbyJ

        Please refrain from using the word “accident” until an investigation is complete. We do not know what happened so the use of the word “accident” should be avoided

    1. Murtles

      Yes, Leo’s election campaign takes precedence. Don’t want a documentary about government failure being broadcast during campaigning. Thankfully the RTE lapdogs oblige.

  1. Tea And Brexits

    Christ. Dublin is becoming worse than San Francisco for the way homeless people are treated and are now out of preference for the tech mafia and their airspaces.

    The Untermensch of the Instagram generation. Disgusting.

    RIP

    1. Charger Salmons

      Unsurprisingly San Francisco has a Democrat-controlled council.It cares more about being a sanctuary city and welcoming illegal immigrants than it does about its residents.
      The place is an absolute toilet.
      The great thing about the city is it doesn’t take long to get out of the dump pretty fast and into the altogether more agreeable pastures of Napa and Sonoma to imbibe the vino.
      Marvellous.

      1. Tea And Brexits

        If you’d ever been to San Francisco you’d know it’s called the Board of Supervisors. Sonoma and Napa also Democrat controlled. But of course, you’ve never been further than Ealing ….

        1. Charger Salmons

          I’m aware a Board of Supervisors run SF.
          It’s why I used council with a lower case C precisely because it’s a generic term for local government and not its official name such as Cork County Council.
          I’ve forgotten more about Californian politics than you’ll ever know.

      2. Someone at Google Viewed Your Profile

        “It cares more about being a sanctuary city and welcoming illegal immigrants “.. off he goes with the Trump/Patel racism again.

  2. Tomm

    I’m sick of the characterisation of homeless people as violent thieves and drunks. The homeless agencies are constantly denigrating them saying they’re dangerous to be around in hostels.

    1. dav

      It helps with the governments’ victim blaming attitude, just look at the way they treat terminally ill women, drag them through the courts. It’s all they know

      1. Cian

        “just look at the way they treat terminally ill women, forcing them to drag them the State through the courts”

        fixed that for you.

        1. millie vanilly strikes again

          Did you? I’d say a lot of women who have been treated appallingly by the State would dispute that.

          1. Cian

            I am not disputing that people have been treated appallingly by the State.

            I’m disputing that the State was dragged terminally ill women through the courts.
            I’m suggesting that the women instigated the court proceeding – not the State.

            I also acknowledge that the women were left in a place that they had no other option – I said that the State forced the terminally ill women to drag the State through the courts .

            But if you can provide a list of times that the State instigated court proceeding against terminally ill women I’ll retract my statement.

    2. george

      Not true, they say some homeless people are afraid of some other homeless people in hostels which is 100% true. It only has to be a minority to create the legitimate fear.

    3. Chris

      I’m sick of idiots like you treating the homeless problem like it’s a simple case of the government wanting to punish the poor- these people have complex issues and they ALL have beds available but they CHOOSE to sleep rough or in tents. That is a fact. Millions and millions of public money AND charity funds go on this thing every year and the problem will always be with us. If you vote in SF or the people before profit crown you will get the same result because guess what, they already run most of the councils.

      1. Col

        “these people have complex issues ”

        Why are there so many more people with “complex issues” than there were 10 years ago? What happened?

      2. Nigel

        Most people have complex issues, and when accomodation becomes too scarce and expensive, you end up with people with complex issues and no homes.

      3. george

        Many feel safer taking their chances on their own then seeking a bed each night in a hostel where there are people with complex problems.

  3. BobbyJ

    “Every action that is taken by state services is taken in the interest of health and safety of those individuals experiencing homelessness”

    They might want to reconsider that sentence from the PR piece considering the individual ended up in hospital with “life-changing injuries”

    1. Chris

      Do you actually think they did it on purpose? Forgive me crediting everyone involved with a shred of humanity.

  4. Dr.Fart

    jesus, when you think this couldn’t get worse, they cover up the fact they killed the poor man. Any reporter worth their salt would see if they could try find this man. They’ll find that he’s nowhere. First red flag is the reports changing, the second is it’s RTE who changed it and we all know who they work for. The establishment are circling the wagons here, demonsing homeless people by discussing their “encampments” like they’ll set up Mad Max Barter Town. Then a few crocodile tears, relieve anyone involved of any wrongdoing or guilt, and off, gone. Sit tight for the next scandal to take over from the last. Absolute scumbags.

    1. Not Himselfe

      He’s not dead! Don’t people read articles anymore before commenting? He is in hospital.

      Obviously the whole thing is appalling but stop spreading incorrect information.

      1. Chris

        I swear, the amount of right-on socialist conspiracy shills who blame everything in the world on “blueshirts” and they cant even be bothered to read the article before commenting.

        1. BobbyJ

          Aren’t you the one who is stating that SF and PBP “run most of the councils”? Maybe you should also consider conducting some research before posting nonsense

        2. Qwerty123

          If people read the article/story before commenting, this would be a very boring comment section.

          We need idiots who type before thinking, its what keeps us coming back.

    2. Dr.Fart

      all you “read the article” sillies would do well to read the entire post yourselves. He was initially reported as dead, then the next day he was reported as hospitalised. But the poor man IS dead. They’ve changed the reports to avoid the huge backlash they’d receive if people knew the truth.

      1. A Person

        He’s not dead. Fart again talking poo for the sake of it. You should rename yourself as Dr Fake.

  5. Paddy

    Jesus. Lots of talk about why they had to move the tents, but no explanation about why nobody bothered to see if the fupping tents were occupied. Surely this is criminal negligence.

    1. scottser

      how did you escape with an ‘f’ word when they changed ‘muppet’ to ‘silly’ on me yesterday?

      Maybe it’s because the mods occasionally miss the odd f-bomb on account of this being a fairly laid back website with few enough people at the helm and let’s all try to stay chill. Hey look, a cat.

  6. BaronVonTart

    Why on earth is a digger or machine used to move tents? This is disgusting on so many levels and I hope this man is alive and recovers and gets a roof over his head. This is all a product of decades of FG/FF rule

    1. Someone at Google Viewed Your Profile

      Too many fans of the IDF watching what goes on in the occupied territories. Besides, one of their builder friends probably lent it to them….

  7. Charger Salmons

    I’d be interested to know how many of these homeless people are foreign nationals.
    Although, of course, one is not allowed to mention immigration on here without attracting the usual torrent of abuse.

    1. Chris

      If it had ANY bearing on the matter at hand you could raise it- can you explain why that matters just so I can figure out why I shouldn’t think you are racist?

      1. Jonboy

        Can’t win with this clowns, any foreign national is automatically doing things wrong :

        If they’re homeless – lazy bleeding foreigners
        If they’re in direct provision – fraudsters
        if they have a home – stealing homes from the Irish
        if they have a job – stealing jobs from the Irish

      2. Charger Salmons

        Of course.
        If we accept that a lot of homelessness is caused by a lack of affordable housing it comes down to supply and demand.
        If it’s impossible to know what the future demand will be because there are no limits on the number of immigrants from the EU how can future supply be properly estimated ?
        It takes time and money to plan housing, even if you know how many houses you have to build.
        I estimate net inward migration for this and the previous two years will be more than 100,000.
        Were housing authorities able to sit down three years ago and plan for 100,000 extra people by 2020 even if they’d had the money and planning permission to build them ?
        Now, is this too much for your peanut-brain to comprehend without shouting waycist ?

        1. Nigel

          Charger, you could post a recipe for the most delicious lemon pudding in the world, and we could still shout ‘racist!’ at you. Because you’re a racist!

          1. Nigel

            I mean normally we don’t bother, because who would it be news to at this stage? You’re part of the furniture, now, like a racist vase that’s too ugly to get rid of because the racist aunt who gave it to us would notice straight away.

          2. Dr.Fart

            charger, you’re getting expertly torn apart by Nigel, and your only come backs are name calling. Nigel wins all battles and thusly the war. so pack it in, you’ve thourhoughly outclassed

        2. george

          You’re a migrant. So why not follow your own advice by selling your home to an Irish person and going back to Britain? What’s good for the goose is good for the gander.

          1. Charger Salmons

            Which home ?
            I had half a dozen at the last count.
            I love migrants me.Great tenants.Regular payers.
            Although I am choosy about which nationality I let in and trust me the Irish aren’t top of the list.
            But the problem we’re discussing here is homelessness and the pressures cause by unlimited immigration.
            Private landlords like me cream off the good ones – you need to be worrying about the rest.
            Heh,heh,heh.

          2. ReproBertie

            “Although I am choosy about which nationality I let in”

            And this is you denying that you’re a racist?

          3. Wotamess

            Although I am choosy about which nationality I let in and trust me the Irish aren’t top of the list.

            At least he’s an anti-Irish racist, right?

            Totally on-trend for the Zeitgeist.

          4. Charger Salmons

            Racist ?
            For preferring Polish tenants rather than Nigerian ?
            Slovakian rather than Romanian ?
            Bulgarian rather than Irish ?
            My gaff. My rules.
            Welcome to capitalism baby.

          5. ReproBertie

            Racist? For favouring people from one nation over people from another nation?

            Well, yes. That is racist. What is it you think racism is?

          6. Charger Salmons

            If you think that’s racism you’re even more of a snowflake than I thought.
            You’ve got a lot to learn about life old sport.
            But dream on anyway.
            It’s rather sweet tbh.

          7. ReproBertie

            Discrimination against people because of their race or ethnicity is the very definition of racism. You freely admit to discriminating against people from Nigeria and Romania. Like it or not old sport, that makes you a racist.

          8. ReproBertie

            As I said, “Discrimination against people because of their race or ethnicity is the very definition of racism” but do tell me more about how discriminating against Nigerians because they are Nigerian isn’t racist.

          9. Charger Salmons

            So if I preferred a Nigerian tenant to one from Romania ( which I do ) that would be racism too ?
            If Broadsheet is happy for English people to be called Tans but not Irish people to be called Paddies would that be racism too ?
            So many questions …

          10. bisted

            …hooray…I’ve been using the name brits as a pejorative for decades until I realised they love the name…thank you Charger…I’ve swapped to Tans…most English don’t know what a Tan is but they don’t like it…marvellous…

          11. ReproBertie

            “So if I preferred a Nigerian tenant to one from Romania ( which I do ) that would be racism too ?”
            If your reason for preferring them is down to their nationality vs the nationality of the Romanian then yes. That’s exactly how it works.

            I’m glad we could share in this learning moment. Now take that knowledge with you and try to be less racist.

          12. Charger Salmons

            But my choice of tenants is based on the behaviour of previous tenants of their nationality and not themselves per se.
            Which is why Irish tenants come down pretty low on my list – above Romanians but probably just below Nigerians.
            And a long way below most East Europeans.
            I suppose in that sense I’m an equal opportunities waycist.
            It’s tough at the sharp end though picking up the slack caused by not enough planning for the influx of immigrants.
            Fortunately it’s well remunerated.
            Fail to prepare etc etc.
            Marvellous.

          13. Charger Salmons

            @Fisted.
            The Tans seem to be causing the Irish a lot more upset than the Tans at the moment.
            Bit of an own goal old chap.
            Do try to keep up.

          14. ReproBertie

            ”But my choice of tenants is based on the behaviour of previous tenants of their nationality and not themselves per se.“

            So you are judging them based on their nationality alone. This is racist behaviour and behaving in this way makes you a racist. Change your ways. People are individuals, not nationalities.

          15. Charger Salmons

            The problem comes when a collection of individuals act in a way which then defines their nationality.
            For instance, in some parts of the world the Irish have a reputation for being feckless, unreliable drunks.
            Not the lovable merry topers they think they are but dull, boorish wasters.
            Of course this is no way to characterise an entire nation but , you know, there is THAT reputation that goes ahead of the Irish.
            It’s perhaps why in parts of Australia landlords are reluctant to have the Irish as tenants.
            Is that racism or just the result of a reputation garnered by the Irish ?

          16. ReproBertie

            I really thought you had got it but no. Let’s try again.

            When you discriminate against someone based on their nationality you are being racist. Discriminating against someone because of a stereotype or because they are of the same nationality as someone else who behaved badly is racism.

            It’s not complicated. Judge people for themselves, not for their nationality.

          17. f_lawless

            I guess regarding private rentals, you could make the case that a preference for people of certain ethnicities , which has been based on a number of previous experiences, could be characterised as pragmatic rather than “racist”. Of course, as long as you haven’t crossed the line into believing in negative racial/ethnic stereotypes- ie. your relatively small experience qualifies you to make a sweeping judgement on people of that group in general.

            On the other hand, the comment from the other day:
            “Sometimes you need a bit of shock and awe to keep these Arabs in check” seems to come from the mind of someone who sees himself as belonging to a superior group of people – of which other groups should play a subordinate role to.

          18. ReproBertie

            ”I guess regarding private rentals, you could make the case that a preference for people of certain ethnicities , which has been based on a number of previous experiences, could be characterised as pragmatic rather than “racist”.”

            I guess people can explain away racist behaviour in all sorts of ways but that doesn’t stop it being racist behaviour.

          19. f_lawless

            Well I suppose you could interpret it that way, but just for the sake of it, say you were a landlord and your lived experience over the years was that , on more that one occasion, you’ve had trouble with different tenants who came from one particular place. Tenants from another place, have been model tenants so far. If you’re honestly claiming that you wouldn’t have developed some inkling of preference for one over the other based on your previous experience, then you’re coming across as a bit holier-than-thou, to be frank.

          20. ReproBertie

            “ If you’re honestly claiming“
            I’m not claiming anything. I’m just pointing out to Spoofer that his behaviour is racist.

        3. Chris

          Thanks for clarifying that, your point had nothing at all to do with the issue and you are clearly a racist. Homelessness is not caused by migration to Ireland. Migration is essential to our economy and has been demonstrated time and time again to have an overall positive effect for the country (except for racists who blame them for their own inadequacies).

          1. Cian


            – Migration causes increases in homelessness
            – Migration is essential to our economy and has been demonstrated time and time again to have an overall positive effect for the country

            These two points are not mutually exclusive.

            Migration has been hugely beneficial to Ireland. But it also has added massive demand on housing… which (along with a lack of supply of housing) has resulted in more homelessness.

          2. Nigel

            But we didn’t actually need a racist to tell us these things, and saying these things doesn’t make him less of a racist, nor does a racist saying these things make them racist, though if racists say these things a lot you’re inclined to be suspicious when you hear them, and though that sounds complicated it’s all easy enough to instantly conceptualise, and this is why racists always complain that they’re being intolerated.

          3. millie vanilly strikes again

            Well then by all means do the rest of us a favour and shut up.

            I think even your mother would thank you for it.

          4. Charger Salmons

            And do you remember when Ireland pleaded with FIFA to be allowed into the World Cup as the 33rd team and became the laughing stock of world football ?
            That’s most of the posters on here.
            Back of the net !

          5. Listrade

            @Cian: “Migration has been hugely beneficial to Ireland. But it also has added massive demand on housing… which (along with a lack of supply of housing) has resulted in more homelessness.”

            And boom goes the capitalist line. It’s simple isn’t it? Cheap labour good, let them in, but it’s still them who have tipped the scales in demand for housing. Still their fault.

            But that’s not the full story.

            A line that is often spun is that the older left were against immigration and free movement or at least in favour of restriction and that is untrue. I speak as an old leftie. We didn’t trust capitalists. We knew free movement would lead to exploitation and it was that side of it we opposed. We knew that a transient workforce meant that pay would be reduced. We were right. The wage gap is obscene. We knew that a transient workforce would be ok with poor standards as it was temporary. We knew that it would lead to a weakening of unions and worker voice. We were right. It wasn’t immigrants we were against, it was that it would be a tool to weaken workers.

            Then we come to housing. Supply and demand? There are too many people who want houses and not enough houses? But that’s not the full story. There are houses. There are places to live, but they are unaffordable. The average industrial wage is an average that takes in the increased gap between the top and the bottom and it makes everything look cozy.

            There is housing, the problem is that only those at the higher end can afford them. There is a huge percentage of people who can’t even rent. The prices are too high. The prices wouldn’t be that high if there weren’t people who couldn’t afford them.

            It’s not just build more houses, that’s nice for the rich people who own the construction firms who employ transient labour and skip on building regulations. That’s nice for the landlords. That’s nice for the people on the good wages. The slight of hand is that by spewing out that line, all we do is make the rich richer. So centrists like to ease their conscience by talking about a certain percentage of affordable houses.

            Except that never happens because they don’t want to buy a house on an estate with affordable houses in it or they don’t want to live in the same area where there are affordable homes and its never enforced because we don’t want to upset the rich builders and their political donations.

            It isn’t the amount of homes, it’s the lack of a living wage. It’s the wage gap. It’s not being able to afford the school fees for your kids books. It’s only €100 but when you’re living week to week and your food budget is €80 for the family, that’s a big chunk. It’s that you don’t take your kids to the doctors because you can’t afford to. You don’t go to A&E because you can’t afford to. That you have people sneering at you for still having a mobile phone, but you need that in case you get a a phone call about more hours being available for work. That you have to balance taking all the hours you can get over two or three jobs with school, childcare, health, heating, electricity, rent, food and all on a rate of pay that you cannot live off.

            It’s great to have full employment, except that a lot of that isn’t earning a wage they can live off.

            So all the luxuries the better off can afford and enjoy has come at the expense of those at the bottom. And it isn’t the fault of those who are immigrants, it’s the businesses and the politicians who let the exploitation happen and who dove head first into the exploitation.

            Then when that trickled down to all low paid workers and not just transient labour, we let the people who were now obscenely rich point the finger at the immigrants. To refer to a point you made earlier: that’s victim blaming. That’s gas lighting.

            It isn’t just supply and demand. It isn’t just build more houses. It’s stop letting people live in poverty and close the gap on wages.

          6. V

            Lisso is absolutely spot on here

            This FF supported Government led by Leo Varadkar has actually created a Five, and now from my view. a six tier society in a State of less than 5 million.

            And it is all to do with Pay/ Income, and accommodation status.

            In the next 15 to 30 years you will see another class arise, that of the benchmarked pensions as it crystallises versus the private sector retirees who bore the brunt of the banking collapse.

            I can recall us discussing the real life value of income one time on BS.tv, something around the papers slot, and a headline mentioning 30k was considered Middle Class earnings by Fine Gael.

            Something else that Leo’s Government should also be remembered for is just how dim most of his Ministers are, and just how incapable they were for the brief they held. He dumbed down Government, and made it about rewarding his supporters, PR, announcements and briefings, and not about Governing, and we should not ignore that either.

            Its up to the people now to decide what they want next, and all I’m going to add now is a juicy thank feic for Leo’s catastrophic campaign launch

    2. kellma

      Makes a change from the usual diatribe of “the immigrants jumping the queues before our own” for social housing. They must have gotten sick of the heated social housing and decided to check out this new air-tent phenomenon.

  8. Madam X

    Victim blaming as per usual The attitude of Waterways Ire and DCC stinks. . So absolutely simple to check for life before bringing in a digger.

      1. Dr.Fart

        Varadkar did it today, he said there was a home offered to the man, implying it’s his own fault for being there. John Kilraine does it in spades in his interview, talking of the “dangers” of tent dwelling, and the anti-social nature of people who live in tents. Few other instances of it, but you’d be blind to it with your status-quo/black and white filtered vision.

        1. Cian

          okay, I kind of see what you mean.

          Out of curiosity, I posted a story earlier about a court case (see below). In that case is the judge victim-blaming too?:

          A 33-year-old airport worker, who tripped over a centuries-old “jostle stone” after exiting a pub in Dublin’s Temple Bar, has lost a €60,000 personal injuries claim against the pub and the city council and will have to pay the legal costs of both defendants.

          The judge said the stone was visible to anyone who was watching where they were going and there was an obligation on people to look where they were walking.

          1. Listrade

            How do you even work that case into this narrative. Man is offered accommodation (note use of “home” by politicians and media to give impression of a nice warm fire in a semi-detached with a feather duvet when it was probably a bed in a small damp room with 10 other beds), he refuses and is bulldozed while he lies in his tent. Diverting attention to the offer (without context) is diverting blame onto the victim. He didn’t have to be there (might be true), but that in no way excuses whatever negligence led to him being injured.

            But to answer the false equivalence you try to paint: it isn’t the same. The judge isn’t victim blaming, the judge is saying there was no negligence on the part of the defendants. That’s different, it can be a “no fault accident”, there can be “contributory negligence” or, as here it can even be an obvious hazard that an ordinary individual conducting ordinary business would have spotted. It’s not victim blaming, it’s saying they weren’t a victim in the first place.

          2. Cian

            Thanks for your response.

            As I see it there are two separate issues. (a) why was he in a tent on the canal, and (b) why was the tent destroyed without checking it was unoccupied.

            The government is being blamed for (a)… but, as has been said, he was offered accommodation that he chose to not accept. So, arguably, there is no negligence on the part of the State so he isn’t a victim.

            Later he was bulldozed while he lay in his tent (b). the State (WI/ DCC/ whoever) was negligent on this. He is a victim on this issue. I don’t think anyone has been blaming him for this.

            Separately, I can’t find any politician saying he was offered a ‘home’. Varadkar said “He is known to homeless services, has been offered accommodation in the past, will be offered accommodation in the future.” and DCC said “The Executive has been engaging with the individual for some time and accommodation remains available to him.”

  9. A Person

    Can you not have some honest discussion on homelessness. There are 2 types of homeless in Ireland, and worldwide. Those who have fallen on hard times and cannot afford their former accommodation; and the “rough sleepers”, the majority of which have metal or addiction problems. This “category” is a minority of homeless in Ireland. They are a very difficult category to help and house, as anyone living beside a problem neighbour will attest to. When a rough sleeper dies (which fortunately does happen) the amount of people on the band wagon is unreal. The FOH for example, reported that this guy died, calling for action etc., without even checking facts. To solve the current homeless crisis we need to support approved housing bodies with a track record of building, maintaining and managing homes, as opposed to local authorities directly providing them. The latter have a dire record in this regard – it is merely a photo op for politicians and the left in particular. Where are they all when these houses have to be maintained, when anti-social problems arise. Local authority housing in Ireland has a very poor track record – problems estates in every city in the country.

      1. A Person

        Good man, you like most commentators are not addressing the issue. Everyone jumps on the band wagon at a time like this. It’s dreadful, blame the govt, throw money at it etc. Instead of how to solve homelessness between the people you can’t pay, and the troubled minority.

        1. scottser

          You didn’t read it, did you?
          If you want to tackle homelessness then at least try and understand the complexities of causation and you might realise that one size fits all solutions are a waste of time and money.

    1. A Person

      Good man,another band wagon jumper trying to make a political score out of a serious issue. What a non noo.

    1. Cian

      If the tent is in a public place then the owner is breaking the law… so then the tent can be removed lawfully?

  10. D

    they say progress in Ireland happens one funeral at a time, but it’s not the funerals you expect or hope for, is it?

    1. Wotamess

      If someone is living in a tent, that’s their dwelling.

      Fact.

      (Or do you think the constitution only applies to people in houses?)

      1. Qwerty123

        An unlawful temporary dwelling that can be removed. Why not build a house then on any public land? It would be a dwelling, so under the constitution I am ok?

        That’s it, I’m going to build an eff off house in the middle of phoenix park, art 40.5 will save me after all….

        Jaysus, this election is bring them all out now.

        1. Cian

          How do you know it was an unlawful dwelling?
          If someone pitched a tent on my land I know it is unlawful – because they need my permission. If I haven’t granted permission, it is unlawful.

          It is also littering, and I can remove said litter (I’d check it was empty first).

      2. Termagant

        I think if it doesn’t have an address it’s not legally a residence/dwelling

        And no “green tent down by the canal up a bit from the third tree down” isn’t an address

        1. george

          There are a lot of addresses like that in Ireland so no that isn’t the legal basis for what a dwelling is.

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