More beggars than usual

Tha Gopher

Anyone notice the huge increase in the last few weeks compared to usual? In town today Ive seen about 10 on O`Connell Street alone (two romanian gobsh1tes with a clipboard soliciting "donations"- a photo of a baby on the clipboard, a short story about how the child had been orphaned and a list of pledges below. Im sorry now I didnt ask to see his charity reg number for a laugh Along with them other primarily elderly nobs going up to people with their hand outstretched at ATM machines)

Was just wondering what the point is. Surely nobody would give them anything? I suppose the question really is, do/would you give to beggars?

Mossy Monk

i don't give to beggars

Ruu_Old

Don't normally but a chap came up to me looking for $5 for breakfast in Chicago Union Station in November. I bought him a heap of McDonalds and a some coffee, it was bloody freezing outside. At least I knew where the money went this time around.

InFront

Most of us probably wouldn't miss a few euro if we lost it on the street so I don't see why not.
I would avoid giving money to people who I'd suspect of being junkies, but there's an old lady who sits around Stephen's Green with a child that you tend to feel a bit guilty about passing. It's just a few euro to people like us who waste time on the internet posting in threads like this!:)

Heisenberg.

This post has been deleted.

InFront

That's brilliant! I reckon that would get you more dosh than most other tactics.

Heisenberg.

This post has been deleted.

Wertz

The Scientist wrote:

Ya I'm the same, I rarely fund vagrancy unless the particular tramp humours me in the process.
E.g A beggar in the states last year had a sign saying "Why Lie? I need a beer" so i felt he deserved some of my money.

Funny that....reading about him in an "...and finally" news piece in the Herald AM on wednesday.

As for giving to beggars? I'd sooner give them a few quid than a chugger...I don't really care if they're gonna blow it on drink or whatever, that's their business, although I'd prefer tyo think I was contributing to them habving a roof over their head that night.
A lot of hand wringing on the Joe Duffy show the last few days about some young fella begging in grafton st in a t-shirt and boxers, who was refusing food and clothes; just wanted money...apparently a smack head.

One thing I'll say; people don't choose to be homeless and in turn to have to beg...it's usually easy enough to spot genuine cases....oh and take this how you like, but I'll outright refuse to donate to non-nationals....if they had the money to get here and the skills to offer the economy then they should never have ended up in the position where they need a handout so they don't deserve one....go to your embassy and request a flight home.

OfflerCrocGod

You can never be sure that the person you are giving to isn't a conman like the kid that was being described on RTE radio who camps Henry St (?). So my way of dealing with that is to never give any of them anything, just ignore them.

admiralofthefleet

its all the celtic tiger cubs f*cked after spending money they dont have at xmas

Rhyme

I give money to charities and empty change into those tip cups café's put out but i don't drop change in beggar's mugs. I'd rather buy them a bit of food or a hot drink rather than let them feed a bad habit (and on one or two occasions i've bought something for a beggar and they've refused it for whatever reason). People who try and scam normal people as mentioned before and people who pull at your sleeves annoy me... they get nothing.

There's this guy who begs on Henry St. from time to time, old fella with a white beard, he just kneels down and just puts his hands out. I've found myself giving him some coins as the sight of him pulls at the old heartstrings.

Stark

Last gypsy I gave money to followed me round town for about an hour grabbing at me and making fake weeping sounds and pointing to a picture of a baby. Never again. It took a few skangers to finally get rid of her.

o1s1n

Stark wrote:

Last gypsy I gave money to followed me round town for about an hour grabbing at me and making fake weeping sounds and pointing to a picture of a baby. Never again. It took a few skangers to finally get rid of her.

I constantly have these harassing me while I wait for buses on O Connell street.The fake sad/pathetic look they put on really makes me sick. I don't mind giving genuine homeless people money. But there's something nasty about these beggers in particular.

InFront

Stark wrote:

Last gypsy I gave money to followed me round town for about an hour

An hour?

Were you dressed in platinum or something?

Stark

I had to take a good bit of money out of the ATM that day and she was there when I was taking it out. I lost her at a few points but I'd bump into her again a little while later.

Dave!

It's not politically correct to call them beggars/bums/etc.!

They're the residentially impaired!

Heisenberg.

This post has been deleted.

humanji

Stark wrote:

Last gypsy I gave money to followed me round town for about an hour grabbing at me and making fake weeping sounds and pointing to a picture of a baby. Never again. It took a few skangers to finally get rid of her.

Maybe she was selling the photo! She was just trying to give it to you. Your loss, I guess

mikemac

I'd say I encounter more gypsies begging each day than Irish people.
I thought they all came over due to Romania now being in the EU but now that I think of it, they were here before Christmas. I've yet to meet one who has a word of English.

Umiq88

The romanians make a fortune begging apparently they do it for 5 years live riff and then go back to romania and live like kings i was over there in the summer and they have gypsie palaces which are bloody hugh about 5 familys group together and built them.

Wasnt there a load in cork who was stopped with 10grand on him he got beggin

ixoy

The Scientist wrote:

Ya I'm the same, I rarely fund vagrancy unless the particular tramp humours me in the process.
E.g A beggar in the states last year had a sign saying "Why Lie? I need a beer" so i felt he deserved some of my money.

There was a guy a couple of years ago on O'Connell Bridge in Dublin that did something similiar - he had a sign "Need money for beer". Honesty - a good virtue.

biko

Tha Gopher wrote:

I suppose the question really is, do/would you give to beggars?

I might, there's one on Mainguard street I've given a euro or two on occasion.

Hail 2 Da Chimp

Yup I noticed one or two new ones in Sligo, last weekend...
Some new crack head wandering around town tryin to give me a sob story.

Also the last time I was using the ATM, for those of ye who dont know Sligo, there is a bum who begs inside the door. His mobile started ringing, when he answered i could hear him saying.
"Hello? Oh right im just in town i'll be home in a few hours."

Laughed my ass off at that.

Splinter

at times, but i gotta feel they are genuinely looking for help though, none of the skagged out faces asking "herrreee bud an ya spare us a few euros for me busfare/hostel"...that b0llix, i know exactly what they want the money for. also yeah the gypsies are a pain,ya often see the groups of em standing on grafton street chattnig before they head off on their ways...bah they just annoy me..

DarkJager

Best thing I've ever seen was in Cruises Street in Limerick. A romanian woman sitting in a doorway with her begging cup while her child attempted to play smoke on the water on a Euro shop keyboard...I couldn't move for about 5 minutes I was laughing so much

TequilaMockingBird

Whats with, apparently, registered charities camped out in front of post offices on Thursdays, which is when social welfare etc payments are paid out. I think its outragous.

P.S. Hail 2 the Chimp, the smackhead around Sligo, is it small guy, difficulties walking. Always after my handbag. Just want to know is there another one I've to look out for! Never met that bloke in EJs thankfully.

iremex

Tha Gopher wrote:

Along with them other primarily elderly nobs going up to people with their hand outstretched at ATM machines)

ask them if they have change for a €50!!! :eek:

HelterSkelter

InFront wrote:

I would avoid giving money to people who I'd suspect of being junkies,

Why not? If nobody gives to the junkie then he will rob to get the money. You could be saving the old lady from having her handbag snatched or house robbed by giving to him.

Stark

Yeah like tossing them a few coppers is going to stop that.

irlirishkev

I sometimes give to the homeless on the streets. It's only a couple of euro, so why not?

But then recently I've been thinking.. What if I'm walking over say, Ha'penny Bridge, where there are often two homeless begging. You give to one, and the other one sees this. You've no money left so you don't give to the other. How the hell does the second homeless person feel now?

Also, where do you draw the line. Why give to one and not the other..

HelterSkelter

Stark wrote:

Yeah like tossing them a few coppers is going to stop that.

Not if you're to believe some of the other posters on boards who claim to have relations working in banks who say that beggers come in every monday morning with thousands of euro in coins from their begging.

Stark

irlirishkev wrote:

But then recently I've been thinking.. What if I'm walking over say, Ha'penny Bridge, where there are often two homeless begging. You give to one, and the other one sees this. You've no money left so you don't give to the other. How the hell does the second homeless person feel now?

Also, where do you draw the line. Why give to one and not the other..

I have an easy solution to that. I give to neither

Terry

I'm rarely in Dublin, so I don't encounter this too much.
on my way to the last boards beers i was at, I got out of the cab and was immediately asked for money by some guy. He said it was for cans, so I rewarded his honesty with 2 or 3 quid in change.

Pansy Potter

I've noticed in Dublin that there's a huge increase in the number of Eastern European beggars. They are far more aggressive and perseverant than the ones that we used to have. They even seem to have run our own indiginous homegrown beggars out of town. A bit like the gray squirrel and the red squirrel. Nearly every street seems to have Eastern European busking beggars many of whom are quite elderly. When you pass them by you are impressed by their musical ability, but if you have the misfortune to work in a place where they perform outside you very quickly realise that they only know one ****in' tune. In our office we're pooling together to buy them tickets home.

InFront

HelterSkelter wrote:

Why not? If nobody gives to the junkie then he will rob to get the money. You could be saving the old lady from having her handbag snatched or house robbed by giving to him.

By that line of thinking we ought to be raising money to pay for drug habits so that nobody gets robbed... it's completely backwards, and is the wrong approach to take.

You do what you can to not fund a drug culture and you hope that the people whose job it is will do the rest of the work.

HelterSkelter

InFront wrote:

By that line of thinking we ought to be raising money to pay for drug habits so that nobody gets robbed

I wouldn't go that far! But if I decided to give to someone on the street it wouldn't stop me giving to them if I knew they were a junkie. In any case I try to avoid it, I prefer to give to registered charities who deal with these problems instead.

InFront wrote:

... it's completely backwards, and is the wrong approach to take.

Well I don't agree. The addict needs the drugs and he will get the money one way or another. Do you think you are helping him by not giving him money?

InFront wrote:

You do what you can to not fund a drug culture and you hope that the people whose job it is will do the rest of the work.

Who's job is it? The Government. Don't hold your breath if you expect them to the "rest of the work"

Stark

HelterSkelter wrote:

Well I don't agree. The addict needs the drugs and he will get the money one way or another. Do you think you are helping him by not giving him money?

You don't understand the concept of addiction. It's not like "addict has 3 injections a day. Addict gets the money for his 3 injections. Addict is now satisfied". It's more "Addict gets the money for his 3 injections. Addict starts to crave more injections. Addict starts to rob so he can have 6 injections a day". All you're doing by giving him the money is pushing him further down the path. You're not helping any old ladies.

InFront

HelterSkelter wrote:

Do you think you are helping him by not giving him money?

I think I'm helping to make it harder for him to buy drugs, but mostly I think it's the best thing for society.

Who's job is it? The Government. Don't hold your breath if you expect them to the "rest of the work"

Well I was thinking more along the lines of the Gardai actually. I doesn't matter what your realistic expectations are, you either accept their responsibility to fix this or you take it into your own hands and adapt a rather silly strategy of donating to junkies to save old women from robbery.

event

to let some of you know who are from the north east

on West street in drogheda, there is a romanian who begs on the street. he has a crutch and usually moans about his leg and how he cannot walk.

we own a petrol station close to drogheda, the same man comes in around twice a week driving a car to get petrol

scamming git

Ruu_Old

Ask him where his crutches are next time.

event

me dad did, he served him the petrol

met him on west street as an old woman was giving him money

said to him

'funny how ye didnt need that crutch when you came in for petrol?'

he just looked at him and hopped away

Be The Holy

Its a new innovative form of begging here in Ireland, lets flash our mangled deformities and illict as much sympathy as possible. One chap had the butt of his amputated arm out for all to admire, another with toes that looked like pigs had fed on. Man, just clear them off the streets, we pay enough tax. They must be Bulgaria and Romanian seeing as this has appeared only after the new year. The more money you give them, the more that will come and wont that be a pretty sight.

shane86

Be The Holy wrote:

. They must be Bulgaria and Romanian seeing as this has appeared only after the new year. The more money you give them, the more that will come and wont that be a pretty sight.

I think only self employed people from there can come here (well, I suppose technically anyone can come here, but you either need to be self employed or apply for a work permit to hope to pay the rent)

Next one who asks me for cash Ill say no and then put on the junkie accent/shuffle. Within 10 minutes they will hear a prolonged story about oi need meee bus fare, any smokes buuudddd, need a hostel buudddddd and so on.

The ones with the fake charity fundraising should be arrested tbh. Although in fairness anyone who donates should be sectioned, seeing as theyre clearly too stupid to be allowed to have money.

DonJose

psittacosis wrote:

The romanians make a fortune begging apparently they do it for 5 years live riff and then go back to romania and live like kings i was over there in the summer and they have gypsie palaces which are bloody hugh about 5 familys group together and built them.

Wasnt there a load in cork who was stopped with 10grand on him he got beggin

I'm not sure if the following is the same guy, this Polish guy was arrested in Roscommon with €11k. Which is probably twice what the average Polish worker earns in a year. If they weren't earning this money, they wouldn't be doing. LOL after a good days begging they probably change back into their normal clothes and drive home

http://www.rte.ie/news/2006/0321/dychtanowiczd.html
"A 27-year-old Polish man has been convicted of begging in a public place while in possession of €11,000.

Damian Dychtanowicz was arrested by gardaí outside the Sacred Heart Church in Roscommon on St Patrick's Day while begging for food and money.

He told the court he had been working in Co Galway, where he was earning €70 euro a week, but that the money in his bag belonged to him and his five brothers.

The court ruled there was no need for him to beg and he was sentenced to 14 days in prison."

Stark

The unfortunate reality is that the genuinely needy beggars are often the ones found with 2p or something equally miserable on their person at the end of the day. It's the skilled con artists who are raking it in.

DonJose

Googled the "rich" beggars name and found the following,

"A MAN begging outside a church on St Patrick's Day had almost €11,000 in his possession when searched by gardai.

Polish national Damian Dychtanowicz (28) was sitting on the ground outside the church in Roscommon town when Garda Michael Finnegan was leaving Mass on the national holiday.

Garda Finnegan told Roscommon District Court yesterday that Dychtanowicz had a cardboard sign and a paper cup placed on the ground in front of him.

He told the accused to leave the area and says he did so reluctantly. But when Garda Finnegan looked back, he noticed that Dychtanowicz was once again outside the church.

The garda said he approached the Polish man again and instructed him to leave the area, but he was reluctant to do so.

Garda Finnegan went to the station and returned a short time later. He again found Dychtanowicz at the back of the church.

When he arrested Dychtanowicz a local woman arrived, carrying a hot meal for him. He removed the Pole to the garda station and searched a bag in his possession.

Garda Finnegan discovered almost €11,000 comprised of €50 notes. The court heard that the accused told the arresting garda he worked in Headford, Galway, in a job that paid a nominal figure of €70 a week.

Judge Tom Fitzpatrick interjected the proceedings, and said: "We are in the wrong business..."

"He had a downright cheek to have €11,000 in a bag and to be begging at the same time," said Judge Fitzpatrick.

He sentenced Dychtanowicz to 14 days in prison and advised him that he had a right of appeal."


http://www.unison.ie/irish_independent/stories.php3?ca=9&si=1584563&issue_id=13829

The judge should have confiscated the money and donated it charity.

neuro-praxis

Wow, middle class life is so hard.

Rb

I've noticed an increase in the amount of beggars alright. I come through town every day on the way home from work, usually give whichever one I come across nearest the Luas on Stephens green whatever change I have after the day.
However, I don't give it to the girl in the tracksuit who sits beside the Luas machine asking each person over and over for their change, I can't stand her and her tactics. Generally I don't give it to anyone who asks for it, but I'll happily give it to whoever I find sitting with a cup, especially on cold evenings like these.

I know I could be funding addictions, but I don't really mind, whatever gets them through the night really. I'd hope it goes towards hostels/food/clothing though.

Oh and I know this could be seen as bad, but I only give money to Irish homeless.

Stark

rb_ie wrote:

have after the day.
However, I don't give it to the girl in the tracksuit who sits beside the Luas machine asking each person over and over for their change, I can't stand her and her tactics.

I really hate trying to get a Luas ticket at Heuston station some days. You have guys walk right up to you when they see you about to put your change into the machine and try to bully you into giving it to them. I generally end up going to the Luas stop by the Museum when that happens.

Hypnotoad

event wrote:

to let some of you know who are from the north east

on West street in drogheda, there is a romanian who begs on the street. he has a crutch and usually moans about his leg and how he cannot walk.

we own a petrol station close to drogheda, the same man comes in around twice a week driving a car to get petrol

scamming git

I think I might have seen him outside tower records earlier.

stepbar

neuro-praxis wrote:

Wow, middle class life is so hard.

and and and.......