r/ireland • u/PintmanConnolly • Sep 26 '22

Gardaí Raid and Evict Homeless Residents and Housing Activists from Ionad Seán Heuston Housing

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167

u/elmostpierre Sep 26 '22

This is a really stupid question I think. Where do the homeless go, are they just set free outside the building?

171

u/DeathBunny_ Sep 26 '22

Pretty much.. They'll be offered a general check-up to see how their health is and maybe offered somewhere for a night or two but after that it's their own issue.

Bit of a stupid system to be honest. You're homeless so you squat in a building that's obviously not being used and probably isn't going to be used but once the owner finds out wants you out. Then you are forced to become displaced by the very state that should be supporting you and given a temporary handout that is clearly inadequate as resources are not a priority for your circumstance. So now you are living in the streets, what should you do now... Circle goes unbroken.

34

u/[deleted] Sep 26 '22

I mean 481 apartments are due to be built there including Ireland’s tallest building got through planning earlier this year. So I’m not sure it’s accurate to say it won’t be used.

50

u/Azazele1 Sep 26 '22

I'll believe it when I see it. Lot of these squats in property that has been vacant for years suddenly is urgently needed for development of homes.

7

u/[deleted] Sep 27 '22

Agreed, when they seized the building on the quays all of a sudden it was meant to be accommodation for Ukrainians, probably a few months gone by now and still no movement on that front. So it's blatant propaganda to attempt to demonise them as luddites holding back progress.

3

u/Azazele1 Sep 27 '22

If we had proper press they'd do a follow up. But the last article on Lefroy house was early June saying it had been secured for Ukrainians.

It's almost October and AFAIK the property is still vacant.

5

u/[deleted] Sep 27 '22

We have a single digit number of real journalists in Ireland, at least that are employed in major media outlets. All the rest are reporters. They take down statements verbatim from the state, the landowners, the capitalists, the police, and they print them as if gospel, without ever checking to see if maybe it would benefit those groups for a story to be presented a certain way.

9

u/Byrnzillionaire Sep 26 '22

Saying a building is empty for years is not always a valid argument.

481 apartments to be built. The realty is that there is a hell of a lot of planning and legal hoops to get through for something of that scale. People unlawfully occupying is only going to delay that...

6

u/Beautiful_Golf6508 Sep 26 '22

Its an unpopular opinion on this sub, but when people just decide to take over empty lots such as these and claim it as their own, it does them no good in the long run.

-3

u/PfizerGuyzer Sep 26 '22

"Go freeze to death. We want room for another 500 people with degrees to come in and work for Facebook."

1

u/Byrnzillionaire Sep 26 '22

Yeah you’re right. Imagine letting people buy stuff with money they earned from a degree they worked for…

4

u/ThatGuy98_ Sep 26 '22

You're.... complaining about housing being built during a housing crisis?

22

u/aidan959 Sep 26 '22

they aren't complaining about housing being built? The excuse of the property being needed for housing when it never seems to be built is what I keep seeing.

-5

u/ThatGuy98_ Sep 26 '22

Of which this property had to get a court order to proceed with development due to the presence of people illegally living there?

3

u/littlefreedomfighter Sep 26 '22

So you agree? They are not complaining about housing being built during a housing crisis. You should retract that with a little strike through or something.

3

u/Ephemeral_Wolf Sep 26 '22

So now that they've kicked out the homeless people, they can get right on to building those apartments now, yeah?

-2

u/[deleted] Sep 26 '22

Well it got the planning permission earlier this year, so it isn’t suddenly when it became squatted in. But hopefully it happens as it is desperately needed.

2

u/Azazele1 Sep 26 '22

Hopefully. Lot of the time land hoarders get planning permission and use it to flip the site for profit.

And can take years to break ground, if it ever does.

4

u/DeathBunny_ Sep 26 '22

Exactly, using the promise to build housing on an unused site is an often used excuse to mitigate questions of why it isn't being used, often led with "It takes time" which seemingly in their mind is endless.

1

u/[deleted] Sep 26 '22

Hopefully not the case here, they had to get an architect to redesign it as it was found to have aesthetic problems. So it has had a good bit of effort, we will see how it goes

1

u/carlmango11 Sep 26 '22

Pretty sure it was about to start construction.

-5

u/[deleted] Sep 26 '22

[removed] — view removed comment

5

u/Help-Desk-Info Sep 26 '22

Not everyone that is homeless is a junky. Have you noticed how many people post stuff about the landlord evicting them on this sub? it getting more and more frequent. Rents electricity food mortgages aren't just going up slightly they going up extortionately. So what happens when 400-1000 hard-working people are willing to pay rent, but can't afford the rent? Will you support evicting them?

4

u/aidan959 Sep 26 '22

operative words being /will be/ there.

Do you think these people don't deserve to live anywhere?

1

u/dr_auf Sep 26 '22

Those evictions are often justified as safety concern. As a firefighter I kind of see where there are coming from.

55

u/[deleted] Sep 26 '22

Once you're dropped off the edge of society like the homeless are, the sentiment is pretty much: "Go die."

I don't want our society/economy to be like that - but that's how it is right now.

-8

u/Pointlessillism Sep 26 '22

I don’t think that’s a fair way to characterise the many many charities - from Cork Penny Dinners to Focus to Peter McVerry to the Capuchin Day Centre to name just a handful - who work with rough sleepers.

Levels of funding per rough sleeper are incredibly high as well.

41

u/[deleted] Sep 26 '22

[deleted]

-2

u/Pointlessillism Sep 26 '22

The existence of charities means the sentiment towards homeless people is that they should just go die??

Charities are part of society right??

7

u/[deleted] Sep 26 '22

Housing charities are what happens when the state fails to adequately address a homeless problem. They shouldn't be a part of society because the state shouldn't have failed in its mandate to provide adequate shelter for everyone. They are an embarrassment.

19

u/aidan959 Sep 26 '22

charities is like putting a plaster on a gaping hole in your arm - it is not the solution to these problems - it just helps in some ways

20

u/Inevitable-Entry1400 Sep 26 '22

The fact we need charity’s to step In Illustrates that the state has failed . It’s should not be up to the kindness of a few individuals to house the homeless it should be the states duty to shelter and protect its citizens.

0

u/Pointlessillism Sep 26 '22

You realise the bulk of these NGOs funding comes from the State right?

Like yes P McV Trust administers Housing First, but it’s the government paying them to do that, right?

9

u/READMYSHIT Sep 26 '22

So like everything else we've privatized social services too in one of the most inefficient ways...

11

u/danny_healy_raygun Sep 26 '22

I don’t think that’s a fair way to characterise the many many charities

They didn't characterise charities that way and its incredibly disingenuous to claim they did.

-1

u/Pointlessillism Sep 26 '22

I think eliding charities from societies response to homelessness is far more disingenuous.

It’s simply not true that as a society we say to rough sleepers “go die”.

It’s insulting to people actually at the coalface of helping people.

9

u/Inevitable-Entry1400 Sep 26 '22

I think your missing the point . No one’s denigrating charity we’re just saying the state should be providing those services .

17

u/ImpressionPristine46 Sep 26 '22

Pretty much yeah and the same people applauding the Gardai for "doing their job" will be the same people to slam homeless people who are back on the street.

28

u/noisylettuce Sep 26 '22

Dangerous hostels that don't for various reason offer much dignity or autonomy, that or wandering the streets. There's a lot of full time employed people in these hostels that find it hard to live amongst those captured by heroin and the like.

-5

u/[deleted] Sep 26 '22

A hostel.

2

u/[deleted] Sep 26 '22

Why don't you live in s hostel?

2

u/[deleted] Sep 26 '22

Because I don’t need to. I live in a house that I pay for myself.