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MUSICIANS DREW AN impressive crowd in Dublin city centre last night for the annual Christmas Eve busk in aid of the homeless.
Singers including Glen Hansard, The Coronas and Shobsy performed for hundreds of families and Santa-hat wearing spectators who had gathered for the traditional charity gig.
This marked the 13th edition of the Dublin Simon Community’s annual Christmas Eve Busk outside the Gaiety Theatre near Grafton Street.
Hansard, an Oscar-winning singer-songwriter, performed The Frames’ song Revelate while The Coronas belted out a rendition of The Cranberries’ Linger.
A Lazarus Soul vocalist Brian Brannigan, Dublin-based duo Lorkin O’Reilly and Jonny Pickett, and uilleann piper Seamus Ong and his sister Mary-Aoife Ong also performed during the busk.
In what began as an impromptu music session in 2010, the Christmas Eve busk has turned into a high-octane festive tradition in the capital.
Despite a hiatus during the Covid-19 pandemic restrictions, well-known and up-and-coming Irish artists take part in the charity fundraiser every year.
The busk comes after a series of new record high homeless figures in Ireland, with the latest stats showing 14,966 people were in emergency accommodation in October, including 4,645 children.
The statistics, released by the Department of Housing each month, do not include people sleeping rough, people couch surfing, the homeless in hospitals or prisons, or those who are in shelters for asylum seekers or victims of domestic violence.
The statistics indicate that homelessness has risen by 47% since the last election in February 2020, and by 16% among children year on year.
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The richest country in Europe again depending on charity and volunteers to solve a crisis the people who govern us will ramble back mid January with no vision and same mantra thank god for these wonderful volunteers who have worked free over the Christmas with donations from ordinary decent people to keep these vital services going and doing the work of politians
@Stephen Byrne: any country in Europe who don’t have charities? Charities that exponentially increase their activity during Christmas?
@Stephen Byrne: if it was easy for politicians to spend taxpayers money on every good cause I gather they would
@Stephen Byrne:
More then 24 differant “homeless” charity’s in Dublin alone. Employing over 700 people offering below that number in beds.
Time to clean up the charitie industry.
Then the money donated wll go to the ones who need it.
@Darius Guppy: An excellent example is GoBanyo in Germany, founded by a formerly homeless man, he brought the Duschbus to the streets.
Kitted out with three private bathrooms, one wheelchair accessible, people can look after their personal hygiene.
@Temp Stuff: Instead the fools squander it on bike sheds, bus stops fax machines, travel etc. Don’t mention the hospital. If there was any accountability in this kip, heads would roll and dubious reputations laid to rest.
Jaysus, Glen Hansard would show up at the opening of a phone box
@Niall Boyle: Jaysus, this same comment shows up every year on this same article.
Nearly 15000 people homeless in Ireland now, thanks people for voting Ff and FG back in government, well done.
@Bills n Stuff: And horribly high numbers in the six counties, too.
@Bills n Stuff: you’re welcome
@Bills n Stuff: 15,000 living in FREE ACCOMODATION.
@Bills n Stuff:
Less then a thousand people in the country sleep on the streets. And there is a bed in a hostal for all of them.
Father Mc Ferry? Has stated on radio that when they send out a van to collect someone, by the time they get there someone will have given the person a tent, a sleeping bag, and sandwiches and they are no longer interested in heading back to the hostal.
Eh you forgot to mention the little known Dermot Kennedy who also showed up to play some tunes!
Government spending money on everything but the homeless and especially on themselves with exorbitant pensions salaries and expenses
@Pauline Cahill:
This is a great chance for the lefty left and Typhoid Mary to pull a good news story by living on the average industrial wage and donating the differance to a homeless charity.
Bunch of chancers will go home to their big homes in the nicer parts of Dublin and preach to the rest of us for the rest of the year.
What happened to the surplus home sweet home money donated.
We were promised the accounts would be made public a number of years ago.
Glen Hansard and age gaps with the women he’s with are very suspect, especially your own from Once. Would rather not have him celebrated still
@Lewis Armstrong: try that again.
Temp stuff a home is an necessity and if previous governments were doing their job 15000 people wouldn’t be homeless of which over 4000 are children how are your kids tonight volunteers work aloside people earning big money
@Stephen Byrne:
Yunkies, drunks and wife beaters are not intitled to taxpayers money. That’s the job of charities.
The Cranberries dedicated their song Linger to Glen Hansard. He’s akin to that silent flatulence after a spud dinner that just won’t go away.
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