Begging in Dublin Epedemic? **MOD NOTE, post #3**

hurler32

Have stayed a night or two in Dublin some weeks for past while...but have to sat begging is getting out of control
Have stayed in camden court, walk from there down camden street theres a beggar every 50 yards, if you pass by they throw a smart..you have a nice day bud as if its your fault there begging...went into carmelite church on Aungier street and see beggars terrorising old ladies leaving the church forcing them to give them money...
light a cigarette and you have bums from all corners looking for a smoke & 2 Euro for the bus??
Turning the place into a kip as this carry on.

Muirshin Durkin

would homelessness and heroin abuse not be more of an epidemic than begging?

January

***MOD NOTE***
These threads seem to always lead in the same direction, so this thread will be monitored closely and there will be no warnings given. Please report posts that contravene the charter rather than retaliate to them on thread.

Thank you.

corner of hells

hurler32 wrote: »

Have stayed a night or two in Dublin some weeks for past while...but have to sat begging is getting out of control
Have stayed in camden court, walk from there down camden street theres a beggar every 50 yards, if you pass by they throw a smart..you have a nice day bud as if its your fault there begging...went into carmelite church on Aungier street and see beggars terrorising old ladies leaving the church forcing them to give them money...
light a cigarette and you have bums from all corners looking for a smoke & 2 Euro for the bus??
Turning the place into a kip as this carry on.

There a four hostels relatively close to the Camden court , that might most likely account for the amount of people begging.

LeinsterDub

City of 1.5 million in poor shocker! Am currently in Galway and faced 4 beggars in the Latin Quarter

FloatingVoter

Makes a change from seagulls.

hmmm

I think if you live and work in the city centre you'll notice we have a fair amount of "professional" beggars (Irish & foreign) who have their turfs well staked out. You see the odd poor fecker alright, but I'm extremely cynical of the majority. There's one particular lady I see every day outside Hodges Figgis who has this croaky put on voice saying "will you help the homeless" - sure I will, if you stopped pretending to be homeless that would probably be a start.

the_syco

FloatingVoter wrote: »

Makes a change from seagulls.

Chance of a seagull pooping on you is fairly low. Chance of a professional beggar asking you for money is very high.

seekers

Begging is out of control in Dublin. Constant harassment walking along the street. Wouldn't recommend anyone to go there

Ciaran_B

I'm in Dublin city centre 7 days a week and to suggest there is 'constant harassment' is nonsense.

Lux23

seekers wrote: »

Begging is out of control in Dublin. Constant harassment walking along the street. Wouldn't recommend anyone to go there

I wouldn't agree with this. I walk from Parnell Square across to the south side most days and I may only get approached once or twice a week. I know if you're not used to it, this might seem scary but after a while you harden to it and just keep going. In my experience, Lisbon, Paris, Venice, Milan and Rome were all way worse than Dublin. It shouldn't be this way, but big cities inevitably come with social problems such as begging much like drink driving can be an issue in rural areas.

sabat

I know it's the old cliché of "they'll only spend it on drink or drugs" but it's really the truth of the situation. Hostels are free; there's a multitude of food services operating; they get their dole every week; they get free medical treatment including methodone and a huge industry of voluntary and state institutions to help them. They're begging to keep the session going and people should stop enabling them.

ongarboy

The new trend I've seen in the last few months is beggars coming on commuter trains during the off peak hours and leaving packs of tissues on your seat with a little note and then coming back in a few minutes in the hope you'll buy the tissues? While it's not quite aggressive begging, it's still annoying. Also why tissues??

Guy Sajer

I don't know if you are putting gypsies selling items in the same bracket as begging but having been 6 times to Venice and twice to Milan and once in Rome I didn't see one beggar in all of them.

The only place worse than Dublin that ice seen is London.
There is a much higher percentage of junkies in Dublin and it will never be rectified for as long as the city is in blatant denial that there problems.

seekers

I was posting as someone who doesn't have any connection to Dublin and I am just stating what I saw. I was also nearly accosted by someone looking for money in front of James's hospital last night.

fiachr_a

Guy Sajer wrote: »

There is a much higher percentage of junkies in Dublin and it will never be rectified for as long as the city is in blatant denial that there problems.

It will in a few years when Dublin gets too expensive and all the drugs clinics and homeless shelters get closed.

TheQuietFella

Ciaran_B wrote: »

I'm in Dublin city centre 7 days a week and to suggest there is 'constant harassment' is nonsense.

I wouldn't agree with you! In my opinion there is constant harassment going about your daily business and the greatest nuisance is not only from the usual suspects but also the constant harassment from Amnesty Int'

There should be laws against these groups!

readyletsgo

Work around the Talbot street & Store street area for the past 10 years, Dublin man.

Begging from junkies/drunks and non junkies/drunks is an all day everyday thing. And the aggression is unreal. Don't give a crap what people say on here, Dublin has a major begging problem and the worst is of it is right outside Store St Garda station, where there are never any Garda.

As for the tissues on the train, that's a Gipsy thing, on trains all the time in Spain. You either give them 50cent for the little pack of tissues or you don't. It's annoying but nothing like the zombies roaming the streets of Dublin.

uck51js9zml2yt

I was walking to work on the quays this morning and saw 6 people sleeping rough.
I got thinking about the foreign nationals who are homeless and their inability to afford to escape and go home.
Perhaps it's time to buy these people a plane ticket out of their predicament and allow them return to their families.

R P McMurphy

Guy Sajer wrote: »

I don't know if you are putting gypsies selling items in the same bracket as begging but having been 6 times to Venice and twice to Milan and once in Rome I didn't see one beggar in all of them.

The only place worse than Dublin that ice seen is London.
There is a much higher percentage of junkies in Dublin and it will never be rectified for as long as the city is in blatant denial that there problems.

It might have changed but I can remember Liverpool being terrible for it a number if years ago. People literally following you up the street spinning some story. When they would fade away, another would take their place. I think if someone smokes it probably attracts them a little more as they will probably try for cigarettes first

geecee

readyletsgo wrote: »

Work around the Talbot street & Store street area for the past 10 years, Dublin .

I was just going to mention Talbot st.
Every 2nd time I pass the area outside Supervalu and the Irish independent offices I observe some kind of junkie row

Between Supervalu and the spire you can expect to be aggressively stopped at least 3-4 times by beggars and junkies

howiya

geecee wrote: »

I was just going to mention Talbot st.
Every 2nd time I pass the area outside Supervalu and the Irish independent offices I observe some kind of junkie row

Between Supervalu and the spire you can expect to be aggressively stopped at least 3-4 times by beggars and junkies

Walked that stretch today. Wasn't stopped (aggressively or non-aggresively) by any beggars or junkies.

Actually walked from Parnell Street to the IFSC and was surprised how few people I saw begging in the context of having read this thread earlier in the day.

That's not to say there was none but terms like constant harassment don't represent my experiences of town. And I'd be in town 6-7 days a week

Noddyholder

Just back from Madrid, It seems a lot of begging & people sleeping out on the streets there, also there is quite a few of them lads selling tissues etc, I did not experience any aggressive begging but then I have never experienced it here in Dublin either, that's my story bud.

Chuchote

Lots of people pay for a hostel rather than a homeless shelter, because the shelters may have violent, stoned-out-of-their-heads people in them and so may be dangerous.
If you don't want to give beggars money, don't, just say sorry politely and go on.
If you want to help ease their lives, spend a fiver a week on buying a soup and a sandwich for one random beggar.

Buckfast W

I walk up Talbot street on a Tuesday and Thursday morning and without fail I see the same lady in the same place begging. It's like a job to her. Sometimes if I get an earlier train I'll see her walking down from the spar with a can of redbull ready to start her morning.

I saw her been given money by an older man last week and then she has the cheek to ask for more. As soon as she got the money it was straight into her pocket under her skirt, while she has her torn coffee cup on her lap.

AryaStark

TheQuietFella wrote: »

I wouldn't agree with you! In my opinion there is constant harassment going about your daily business and the greatest nuisance is not only from the usual suspects but also the constant harassment from Amnesty Int'

There should be laws against these groups!

Its hardly harassment. A beggar asks for money, you smile and either say no or just keep walking. Where is the harassment.
I am in Dublin most days and that is how it goes.
Also the Amnesty Int' ask if you have a minute, you say no and keep walking!

TheQuietFella

AryaStark wrote: »

Its hardly harassment. A beggar asks for money, you smile and either say no or just keep walking. Where is the harassment.
I am in Dublin most days and that is how it goes.
Also the Amnesty Int' ask if you have a minute, you say no and keep walking!

When you are standing on O'Connell Street waiting for your bus they are all about you! As for AI, I'll tell them where to go the next time they even look at me!

SteoL

Yep, I get asked for money in Dublin. Likewise it's happened in Limerick, Galway, London, Liverpool, Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Brussels, Prague and many other cities in Europe. It's an unfortunate fact of city living (albeit an annoying one).

2Mad2BeMad

had a young chap come up to me last year, I don't go into town much anymore but this guy really got to me.

He gave me a story and was pure emotional nearly crying telling me but I genuinely had no money just my leap card.

I told him and he replied with " what about them headphones you have on can I have them"
Ya mate I'll give you my 150 quid dr dre headphones sure.... I just walked away.
Have to wonder if he was telling the truth about his story
if he was bull****ting I'd have to say hes the biggest scum I've come accross

Lux23

I just keep walking and ignore them. If I am waiting for a bus and someone comes over, I just say no. The odd time I will give money to someone if I feel like it but as an earlier poster said I really just enabling the problem to continue. The worry I would have in the Guards doing more to stop begging is that it will result in these people getting desperate and resorting to violent crime.

2Mad2BeMad - I reckon he was a spoofer, I will be honest so many of them are. Addiction is a horrible disease.

Lux23

TheQuietFella wrote: »

When you are standing on O'Connell Street waiting for your bus they are all about you! As for AI, I'll tell them where to go the next time they even look at me!

But if you just saw no, most will simply keep going. Are you saying swarms of beggers are harassing commuters?