Begging in the Streets
Judith Atkinson
I reproduce here what is to my mind an especially insensitive letter that
appears in today's Irish Times. Clearly the writer is questioning the legitimacy
of the claims of people begging in the streets, or that there could be such
a thing occurring in Ireland, to the point where she seems to imply in her
tone that the young man without arms had presented them just to have an advantage
in his enterprise! Surely there are those who make spurious claims in every
field of endeavour - from the beggar in the street to the bespoke-suited
executive in his suite of offices - but does the writer not realise that
there are people, usually homeless, often mentally ill, begging in the streets
of *EVERY* city in the world these days, and that they do it just to survive?
Is she suggesting that Ireland do what Rudy Giuliani did here in New York
and have them arrested and hauled into court for the crime of being poor?
[I know it's not cool to criticise him these days, and he has been a great
Mayor in the crisis engendered by the bombing, but.. ] A bit of money to
buy a cup of coffee is not going to help someone achieve financial security,
or even insecurity, for that matter. It means living on the very edge of
a precipice of desperation and despair. That is why people beg consistently,
repeatedly. 'Hand to mouth' living is not a form of conspicuous consumption.
Many of us may have enjoyed the boon times, but the disparity between rich
and poor is more outrageous than ever, all over the world, and something
humane must be done.
Judith Atkinson
BEGGING IN THE STREETS
Sir, - What is the legal position regarding street begging? On Tuesday
this week I was accosted as soon I got off the bus on Dame Street by a
man who insisted I feel his hands (he was cold) and begged me to give
him money for breakfast. He had obviously forgotten that I had given him
Ł4 (and felt his hands) the day before, and he was still begging an hour
later when I happened to pass him by again.
During my lunch hour today I walked by a woman, with an infant lying
prostrate in her arms, begging outside the European Parliament offices
on Molesworth Street. I stepped over a man lying outside the post office
in Anne Street who claimed he was starving.
A man who was "having a bit of hard luck" was lying in the entrance to
Hibernian Way. . Outside the Next shop on Grafton Street was a young man
who, either through amputation or birth defect, had stumps for arms.
These he displayed with the obvious intention of garnering money.
It is like a Third World country out there in our city. Surely we are
not actually leaving people to starve? Are we? And if we are not, why
this sudden growth in both home grown beggars and newcomers?
Who, Sir, is the Minister in charge of beggars? - Yours, etc.,
ESTHER STEELE, Saul Road, Crumlin, Dublin 12.
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unki
"Judith Atkinson" <judith....@ireland.com> wrote:
>
>I reproduce here what is to my mind an especially insensitive letter that
>appears in today's Irish Times. Clearly the writer is questioning the legitimacy
>of the claims of people begging in the streets, or that there could be such
>a thing occurring in Ireland, to the point where she seems to imply in her
>tone that the young man without arms had presented them just to have an
advantage
>in his enterprise!
If that’s the case then that is so cool. I have been begging most of my life,
mainly from women. I am completely unemployable and always will be. So I
am left with no other alternative than to find women who will feed and clothed
me in return for waking up next to me. I have no problem with this at all.
In fact, I think it makes me an Irish hero. I am not sponging off the taxpayer
or anything. I have a service to offer and in return I don’t batter old ladies
across the head and rob their handbags. One day my boyish good-looks will
be no more and I’ll have to change my style. I was thinking on having me
arms chopped off, but I now realise there is someone in Dublin already doing
it. So I have decided that I am going to pose as a Falklands War veteran.
Expect to see me in a few years on O’Connell Street Bridge wearing a poncho
and holding a picture of Evita Peron with that forlorn look on my greasy
mustachio visage that only a hard life shooting lamas in Patagonia can produce.
Until then you can find me outside the Dalkey Ladies Bridge Club with a Pepsi
bottle shoved down the front of me leather trousers. Currently I am at the
pleasure of the club’s treasurer Mrs. Penelope Fitzroy-Knox. She’s no oil
painting granted, but she makes a lovely cup of tea and knows all about pruning
novelty rose bushes. A nicer woman you couldn’t possibly meet. Thank you
so much for this post as it means a lot to people like me.
May the road rise to meet you and all that bollock.
Sage
"Judith Atkinson" <judith....@ireland.com> wrote in message
news:3bb33827$1...@news.boards.ie...
>
> I reproduce here what is to my mind an especially insensitive letter that
> appears in today's Irish Times. Clearly the writer is questioning the
legitimacy
> of the claims of people begging in the streets, or that there could be
such
> a thing occurring in Ireland, to the point where she seems to imply in her
> tone that the young man without arms had presented them just to have an
advantage
> in his enterprise! Surely there are those who make spurious claims in
every
> field of endeavour - from the beggar in the street to the bespoke-suited
> executive in his suite of offices - but does the writer not realise that
> there are people, usually homeless, often mentally ill, begging in the
streets
> of *EVERY* city in the world these days, and that they do it just to
survive?
>
Methinks your sensitivities are being too sensitive. The writer is merely
pointing out some encounters and asking some questions as a result of the
encounters.
k
>
> BEGGING IN THE STREETS
>
> Sir, - What is the legal position regarding street begging? On Tuesday
> this week I was accosted as soon I got off the bus on Dame Street by a
> man who insisted I feel his hands (he was cold) and begged me to give
> him money for breakfast. He had obviously forgotten that I had given him
>
> £4 (and felt his hands) the day before, and he was still begging an hour
D'Olier
with their children in tow. Shouldn't something be done about this
situation at least?
Judith Atkinson <judith....@ireland.com> wrote in message
news:3bb33827$1...@news.boards.ie...
>