The Homeless situation Dublin City -Copyright Robert Fullarton 2014

The Homeless situation Dublin City

-Copyright Robert Fullarton 2014

(This is an article for a Christian based magazine)

Leviticus 25:35-36 

“If your brother becomes poor and cannot maintain himself with you, you shall support him as though he were a stranger and a sojourner, and he shall live with you. Take no interest from him or profit, but fear your God, that your brother may live beside you".

The homeless problem in Dublin has reached a troubling new level of proportion in these times of recession, rising property tax and growing cost of living in one of Europe’s most expensive cities. Underneath the skin of the city there are stories and lives to be known.

Focus Ireland, The Simon Community and The Vincent DePaul are some of the well known registered charities in Dublin that combat the homeless crisis. But there are many privately run charities that operate soup kitchens and soup runs in “down and out Dublin” and these operate out of a local Church. Such charities run on a Christian ethos of kindness, a non-judgmental attitude of charity for the needs of people coming from a variety of backgrounds.

The Mustard Seed is a privately run charity, which operates out of Trinity Pentecostal Church on Gardiner Street, run by Dougie Hobson with a team of up to forty volunteers. The members gather every Monday night. The faces are sombre and respectful, prayers are said for the mission and any sick persons known to the mission, before the night ahead. Silver canteens are filled hot water, suitcases are filled with woolly clothes, food provisions are packed and sleeping bags are provided on request. This is a judge-free collection of individuals who gather for a greater good, combating the every day evils of homelessness and offering support, advice and help for those battling with inner demons and addictions.

The teams are split into three groups, wearing red coats and covering both North and South of the river Liffey –with a driver even going out as far as the suburb of Rathmines.

I have met many Lithuanians, Poles and Latvians on the North city route, often outside Sackville Place, where hot soup and sandwiches are provided with stories of families left behind, poverty and embedded shame on returning home with scant prospect left.

The sights of the “have nots and have gots” are on display in the city centre but the characters that frequent the urban jungle in the dark are compelling for any man to examine, some have interesting stories to be told and be understood.

Ralph for example is an educated man, a former addict who loves to read, carries his ash plant around, talks about local history, likes to watch Simon Schama documentaries. Ralph possesses a warm charm and bubbly nature that strikes a cord with even the most apprehensive of people. His eccentricities are an attraction on a night of surreal sights and dismal realities. One man told the team about how he was made redundant, about his fight with poverty and his struggle to get a Visa back to America and in the meantime he has lost touch with his family. The team pray for people on the street, and many will accept without question or second thought the acts of thoughtfulness and benevolence offered, desperation but real desire are on show, mercy and real love exist in the midst of a social mess.

Domestic abuse, mental health problems and poverty are tragic situations within the human condition itself and these certainly play a part in the problem of homelessness, but heroin and methadone are to be held account for a large percentage in the displacement of many individuals. One can at times make a comparison between certain stretches of the city and Dante’s 9^th ring of the inferno with some of the sights that are seen –which touch the emotions- the drama and the slavery to substance that is part and parcel of a drugs epidemic in Dublin City. 

As a Christian I believe than in Christ we must float above the deep waters and travails of our fallen society and lend a hand to those who are sinking, for we have all been through the throes of many sorrows and if it were not for Christ Jesus we too would be dead to hope and lost to God.

RTE have even broadcasted that the Irish Government has planned to build 75,000 council houses to tackle the growing crises.

The members of the Mustard Seed, don’t just offer material provisions and clothes for the homeless, but offer spiritual food, with kindness and they seek a breakthrough into the lives of real human beings, who are affected by the circumstances of human nature that can potentially affect all of us. Support is offered on a one to one basis with those who seek hope in a life of displacement, despair and often a destructive addiction. These are all part of the mission goals of a Christian charity that ventures the darkest parts of the city, working in and with the pot marked reality that has been un-earthed behind the social façade.