Shocking image of father and son sleeping rough in street ‘not unusual’, says charity
MORE children are turning up at soup runs every week, a homeless charity has warned – as a shocking image emerged of a father and son sleeping rough in Dublin city centre.
Taken just off Grafton Street, it shows the pair, in their clothes and shoes, seeking shelter under a sleeping bag.
The photograph, taken on Monday morning, is a stark depiction of the latest figures which show the numbers of homeless children here is growing alarmingly.
Four families became homeless every day in July in Dublin. In total, 122 families with 270 children became newly homeless.
In July, there were 9,891 people living in emergency accommodation in hotels, bed and breakfasts and family hubs. The figure consisted of 6,024 adults and 3,867 children.
The Feed Our Homeless charity has now called on the Government and local authorities to build houses, which will provide permanent accommodation, with the money that is currently being spent on renting space for emergency accommodation.
“What we see is shocking and unacceptable,” Feed Our Homeless founder Tony Walsh said.
“Here we are with another winter coming around the corner and it is clear to us that there are more children turning up on the streets and at our soup runs every week.”
Meanwhile, a thug who was captured on video kicking a homeless man in the face on Sunday was not a Dublin fan coming back from Croke Park, according to a pub owner near the incident.
Gerry O’Reilly, who runs the Deer’s Head on Parnell Street, said the attacker had been drinking for hours on the same street and had not been to the All-Ireland final.
While no complaint was filed to gardaí in relation to the incident, Mr O’Reilly said local gardaí have been seeking CCTV footage of the attack.
The incident happened at around 6.30pm.