1 just wouldn't have lasted
another year on the streets'
More than 5,000 people
of all ages and classes
are believed to be
homeless in Ireland,
writes Alison O'Riordan
4 T F YOU had put me in a
I fridge, I would have
A been warmer," a home-
less man said.
Like most other people, I
rushed through the Christ-
mas, spending a shocking
amount of money while quiet-
ly, yet knowingly, forgetting
those on the margins.
As selfish as it sounds, it
was too much of an effort to
take my gloves off to give some
money to a homeless man. The
bitter weather cut through his
cheap clothing while I was all
wrapped up in my winter's
warmest, going from one heat-
ed building to the next.
I even had the audacity to
complain to my mother about
how this year's Christmas din-
ner was not as good as other
years because it lacked the
potato gratin from Marks &
Spencer's.
Like many people, I take it
for granted that I have food on
my table, fresh clothes, a hot
shower, and most important
of all, a roof over my head,
while other poor souls wake
up on hard ground, soaking
from the rain and shivering in
the bitter wind.
As I looked around me at
the Merchants Quay Day Cen-
tre in Dublin, they were about
to feed more than 200 home-
less people, of all ages and
all classes.
There were more men than
women, and a lot pf the men
were very well dressed, but
somehow distressed looking.
Some were now on the streets
because they couldn't afford to
pay their mortgages and put
food on the table any more. It
may sound patronising, but
they're the lucky ones. Despite
the turkey and ham dinner
with all the trimmings, and
the attempted festive atmos-
phere, the junkies are pale
and frighteningly thin as they
pick at their food while seem-
ingly staring into a chasm.
Some are already stoned or
drunk, others just strung out,
already lost in the vacant
world of the addict.
Dougie Smith, a 38-year-
old recovering drug addict,
has proven there is a way off
the streets. Over a cup of tea,
he jumped from topic to topic
explaining to me how he first
slept rough jn 1998.
"I was a late starter in life
for class-A drugs. The acid
1 thought if I
just put an
end to heroin,
everything
else would fall
into place'
house raves had just come out
in England at the time, around
1987, and I used to be going
over to England to learn to
DJ. That's when I started tak-
ing ecstasy, hash and LSD.
And then on the come-down it
would be valium. I drank alco-
hol very rarely as it would just
make you thirstier. And so my
downward spiral began by
taking a cocktail of drugs and
not knowing half the time
what I was being given. Hero-
in came back on the scene and
I fell into a heroin addiction.
It was only on coming back to
Ireland that I came to the real-
isation I was a drug addict,"
he admitted.
"I thought if I just put an
end to heroin, everything else
would fall into place. I would
get a job, meet a girl and buy
a house. But it didn't work
out that way. I would have
been 12 years on the streets
this May if I didn't get housed
this year by Focus Ireland. It
was a long road of coming
into places like Merchants
Quay and working with a team
leader," he said.
"I call those 12 years on the
streets the circuit' as you start
off in the worst hostel you
could ever imagine; you
wouldn't put an animal in it.
So I left it and slept on a
Dublin Corporation site for
two years, literally on the
grounds at the front doors.
The first thing they did was
install sprinklers which came
on at sam each morning and
there could be eight of us hud-
dled together in sleeping bags
getting soaked."
In an average week, many
people will sleep rough in
Dublin city centre, staying on
the streets for a variety of
reasons, such as behavioural
or addiction problems, or
because they might feel intim-
idated in a hostel. In Ireland,
more than 5,500 people are
believed to be homeless.
"I used to beg on bridges to
feed myself, and I made good
money to be honest, but times
have changed. I'm down here
today in Merchants Quay hav-
ing some food because I miss
the company of people, as it's
a big transition being home-
less for 10 years and then
being given accommodation.
I knew if I hadn't been housed
this year I wouldn't have last-
ed another year on the streets,"
said Dougie. "It can be very
dangerous, I used to look after
the girls on the streets as fre-
quently they would be
attacked by people coming
home from a night out.
Instances such as urinating
on them was very common or everyone sleeping rough. I
throwing a cup of tea on you
or spitting on you," he said.
Estranged from his family
for years, he was recently re- days until Christmas because
united with his sister and it depressed me what I was
mother. "In the last two years even going to do on that day.
my whole life has changed dra-
matically." He says that when
his family saw "that I have the bottle." he said.
made the effort to change and
do something with my life"
they were encouraged.
Having some tough
moments along the way, and
admitting to occasional relaps-
es, his face lit up when he
described to me being given
the keys to his new home.
"Being handed the keys of my
house was like being born
again. I was 38 years of age
and I was crying at being
handed a key. This was the
first thing that was finally
mine," he said.
Enthusiastic about his bur-
geoning acting career, he now
wants to help the young who
often fall into addiction.
Paul Walsh hasn't had a
roof over his head since 1999,
when he began sleeping in the
park in St Stephen's Green.
He was there for four years.
"I'm staying in a hostel at
the minute but come summer,
I'd rather be out on the streets.
Some hostels have up to 16
people in a room and it's
impossible to sleep, and you
get chucked out at 9am in the
morning with nowhere to go.
I'm a drug user and was
barred from my mother's flat
by the corporation," he says.
This was the second spell
on the streets for the 32-year-
old, who spent seven years in
prison. "I use heroin and drink
a lot. I'm HIV positive as well;
I caught it in Mountjoy from
using one needle which was
passed around. It's because of
the night-time you need to
drink so it'll knock you out.
I'm just so used to it, I've been
on drugs since 14 years of age.
I've had a bad Christmas living
on the streets as the hostels
were full. I've been on the
streets so long that I know
sleep with my clothes off and
put my runners underneath
my head. I counted down the
Christmas in prison is better
than out here, so I'm back on
IN FROM THE COLD: A homeless man sits by the radiator in
the Merchants Quay centre in Dublin. Photo: Gerry Mooney