Look, I have worked with & know one the biggest homeless Day Centres in Ireland & the founder & organiser is possibly the most spiritual & giving person I have ever met & even he is against street begging.

If you want to help homeless people, give to the Simon Community or Capuchin Day Centre or volunteer. The fact is that Dublin is full of organised street beggars… Yes, some of the beggars are desolate & desperate & often feeding addiction to either alcohol and/or drugs & most of these have very tragic back stories. However, all of these are looked after by respected agencies & shelters & are begging for money to fund the habit. There are beds to sleep in & the Capuchin Centre feeds 500 every day with no questions asked. The other beggars are often non Irish & are professional beggars. These arrive in the city & spread out to agreed locations & can be organised by criminal elements.

The fact is that there should be no place for street begging. It is uncomfortable on a night out for starters.. Outside a pub on Sth William st you can expect to be stopped up to 10times a night. Tourists hate it & feel unsafe & threatened & it leaves a lasting image of our capital city. So, DO NOT give to street beggars. Homelessness is complicated. help those who understand this issue help homeless people. Donate to respected charities who feed, sleep & give medical advice to those tragically & genuinely homeless & yes, let’s make OUR streets a no begging zone for everyone’s sake.

Yeah the “organised” Roma gypsy begging regiments in Dublin city center are gonna love this…

‘Know Where Your Money Is Going’ – yeah, I really hate the way homeless people in Dublin spend soooo much of my donations on administration and other bureaucratic costs.

My interest I this article was to see where the money in the ‘giving boxes’ would go. I work in services and never heard of ‘Tiglin’. On further investigation it’s part of Teen Challenge an organisation which in my opinion seems to substitute drug addiction with an infatuation with god. I’m not saying this is worse or the same as a drug addiction but it does need considering. I would imagine that larger, more well known charities that work with homeless people would not accept the businesses offer of receiving the funds from ‘giving boxes’ so as not be associated with this kind of business led ‘solution’ that’s only purpose is to appease business owners not really to help the people who do beg move on from this situation successfully.

Most begging I see is organized and yes it’s the Roma gypsies. Some genuine people are begging too but giving money to junkies is a bad idea – it won’t go on food.

Best thing is to donate to charities or even better, do some charity work now and then or buy homeless people a sandwich and soup.

A good idea. The amount of aggressive beggars, dubious beggars (begging to supplement an income) and opportunistic beggars means that genuinely needy cases are overlooked.

I think the reason,these homeless people don’t use the shelters is. Because they feel safer on the streets. The roma are so professionally organised, its scary. I think the boxes are a joke. The homeless situation needs to be dealt with in a. Meaningful way and not left to charities to sort out.

Start by getting those Romanian gypsies off our streets. And help the genuine in need

I remember a beggar followed my wife and myself into the one of Dublin’s multistorey car parking pay areas looking for change and would’nt let up until he got what he wanted. I remember I started to get so angry I could feel adrenalin pumping. I’m not at all a violent person whatsoever but the gall of this lad just really really angered me and I was going to punch him. In the end I just plain out told him to f**k off out loud. There was a crowd of people around so it did create a bit of a scene. This lad was Irish by the way and was around 30+ years of age.
Keith above is right, if people are generally homeless and in need of support there are plenty of facilites of them to support them in some shape or form. However I’m not feeding some person’s drug habit!

How much of the money will actually go to the homeless.As the vast majority of these groups take their contributions first to cover their salaries etc…

Forget begging. These are people down on their luck it could easily happen to any of us. Now if they could do something about those annoying guys in Grafton and Henry St. Looking to stop you and get your bank details that’d be brilliant! God I hate those guys.

Great news, was just hassled getting a ticket for the Luas about 15 minutes ago. This should be rolled out nationwide if it’s successful.

id never give money to romanian gypsies.

Interesting idea but it would seem that begging in Dublin is an organised business carved up among various individuals so can’t really see how begging donation boxes will help solve the problem….perhaps a zero tolerance to begging would be a better solution especially for some of the characters I’ve seen holding children to try tug at heart strings

The problem is that giving money to charities can just mean they pump it into more advertising and street chuggers. It won’t change the situation on the street.

It would seem to make more sense to have a food voucher system, like with itunes cards, so you can give it to the homeless and they can use it to buy food in shops.

Hang on, this money is going to a charity that cares for people with addictions?? So you have to be homeless AND addicted to crack in order to benefit?? Thats complete crap, what about the people who are freezing cold and just want some food and a place to sleep, they have to stick a needle in their arm to qualify?? It should go to the Simon Community!
And John Duggan you are so ignorant, selfish and fat, you look like a newspaper caricature. You clearly have no idea what some of these people are going through.

Will this have implications for the latest Irish religious organisation The Poor Quins.?

I think these ‘giving boxes’ are nonsense, if you want to donate to a charity do. but I think it is unfair of the government to, essential, give a contract to a religious based organisation to advertise themselves in prime location to the detriment of homeless people without addiction or who don’t want to be preached at. Time for this government to take responsible for its citizens with sustainable solutions and stop passing the buck.

The begging on the Ha’penny Bridge is particularly systematic. There are usually only two beggars at a time and they seem to rotate throughout the day. I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s a premium on these spots either as it’s not hard to imagine being able to earn (beg) €40 an hour on the bridge on a Saturday afternoon.

I think in Berlin it’s illegal to beg, so instead of asking for money, homeless people ask you for empty plastic bottles so they can recycle them at various recycle centres and get upto 80c or so on a bottle. They should introduce plastic recycling like that here.

Conveniently placed “Giving boxes” … I hope the kind people who donate don’t get mugged when opening their wallets on the street to make a donation..no good deed goes unpunished

I think this is a great idea, I know people who give money to beggers have their heart in the right place but panhandling has gotten out of hand in the city of late and it can make people feel very uncomfortable.

Im far more concerned about the genuine homelessness crisis in Dublin, there are however proffesional beggars that are profiting from others misfortune.
“BID said today that “problematic street begging” creates a perception that Dublin City Centre is unsafe, when this is simply not the case”
We need to be careful not to advocate sweeping homelessness under the carpet.
That uneasy feeling you feel when you walk past a homeless person/ beggar is called your conscience. They should listen to theirs and instead of trying to remove the homeless/ beggars they should offer a solution to the causes of it!!
We promised to eradicate homelessness by 2011 in our last PfG.
We failed.

(I also dislike when charities collect right outside the doors of a bank/ post office… there should be a legal buffer zone to them!
Nearly crashed a charity stand over coming out the door of the bank today!! Why hit the individual beggar!!! Charities have become the biggest hassellers on the streets of Dublin… those concern guys on college green?? Sanction them first!!)

You should never give a homeless person money. Buy them a coffee or a sandwich instead. At least then they can’t use it to fund a drug habit.

The guy from BID just dropped a box and poster into our shop an hour ago. We have a shop on Liffey street and are willing to give anything a go to reduce the numbers of beggars. At any given time there can be up to 5 or 6 people begging between Henry street and abbey street.

I’m afraid I don’t think this will be very effective. It’s far easier to ignore a “giving box” than a person, we’ve less empathy for a box than a loving, breathing human being, so overall I think people will be less likely to donate. It removes the “there but for the grace of god go I” element..

You get on the spot fines for littering. They should do the same for people giving money to beggars,

thats funny a law saying it is illegal to be broke in Ireland

I’m just back from Rome, the homeless beggars there covered their heads and begged quietly. I walked the city over 6 days and wasn’t hassled once. I get back into Dublin, off the bus and the first thing you see is a sleeping bag wearing guy asking people for money. Why is this tolerated in Dublin. Honestly it’s the only city I’ve been to where “homeless” target other folk actively and are visible on most streets. Something has to be done.

Seems strange that a convenient charity appears, one of which few people seems to have heard when the business owners want homeless beggars hounded off the streets. Is there some financial or other connection between the business organisation and the charity?

Off-topic, I know, but it’s so nice to see the Ha’penny without all of those ridiculous locks upon it!

Worked as a doorman in a city centre night club for years. Lots of these are homeless but a good % are scam artists. One lad use to drive and park a ford focus 07 D and change into his begging clothes. Make about €150 a night and drive home.

Not generalising as there are some genuine cases out there, but not so long ago walking my kids to school i saw a guy park a car.Get out and he looked shifty! So i noticed him especially near a school.Anyway walking back there is the same guy begging outside the local garage kinda made me wary of giving direct to beggars which is unfair on the genuine cases so maybe this is a good idea

So hive my money away to a charity that supports junkies… Ehh no thanks, charity begins at home and I’ll keep my hard earned cash in my pocket rather than dish it out to some government backed think tank !!

Are there really beds available for every homeless person in Dublin to avail of if they wanted to? If so, my view on this will be a little different.

It looks terrible to have people beg. There is only a law to stop people begging beside ATMs. Only way to stop beggars on HaPenny bridge is to put an ATM on it. Ridiculous!
A single person gets €188 dole or disability benefit/allowance + rent allowance. Free travel if you’re on disability. People who beg ARE GREEDY, selfish and usually have drug problems. They just want more and more and more and give nothing back to society. More money buys more drugs. By giving them more money you are inadvertently hurting them.
The Roma Gipsies beg like it’s a profession. It’s like the begging industry.

Disgusting! Let’s hide them all away.

Giving boxes? How long will it take for them to be robbed? By the same people Merchants Quay and other addiction clinics like Rutland Centre & the Heroin Addiction Centre in Tullow are supposed to be helping. Sometimes, these beggars, addicts don’t want to be helped. I’m fed up of them getting help from tax-payers money for their’ own failures. “Society” can be blamed going back generations for “facilities” not being there. How’s about this. I didn’t take the drugs. I didn’t become addicted. I am expected to foot the “recovery” bill in so many ways. How does that make sense?

I agree. The human waste that litter our streets are an incredible eyesore. They are terrible for tourism and the majority have places to sleep.

Yet again it’s up to DUBLIN CITY BUSINESS Improvement District (BID), to do the job of the Gardai. The Gardai seem to thing it’s beneath them to enforce public order laws- whether it be begging or littering. DUBLIN CITY BUSINESS Improvement District (BID), also spends millions a year on trying to keep a lid on littering in Dublin City Centre because guards couldn’t be arsed to issue litter fines. Part of the problem is that we have an extremely lazy police force – please dont blame cuts because it was the same during the boom.

You’ve obviously never been to New York or Cork!!

I am quite unhappy about the bile against beggars on here. I sincerely doubt that any of them do it as a scam. If any of them uses it to buy drink or drugs it only means that society is not looking after their needs: to sober up, detox, rehab or keep on cheap, preferably legal drugs. Whoever chooses begging as a ‘career’, as suggested by several forists, good luck to them judging by the comments on here. And to give any of my sparse cash to some new organization and their forty begging boxes: ha ha ha ha ha

Well stop giving them free travel passes for starters!

Shows yet again the dis jointed approach to infrastructure, social services and people in need.

How safe are the boxes? With the calibre in Ireland I could see them being knicked or the slack jawed corpo worker dipping his grubby hand in when he empties it to spend on Johnny Blues and dog racing. The way the used to do with the parking meters.