Seasonal Christmas Beggers

KTRIC

I noticed over the past few years in Dublin city there tends to be more beggers on the streets coming up to the Christmas holiday. Today I seen a man outside Brown Thomas on Grafton St. well dressed with nice clothes well groomed begging. Both myself and my brother were amazed at this guys cheak, there was no way he was homeless.

Has anybody else noticed these seasonal beggers ???
or is it just me.

Devon

Yeah they crawl out from under every cobblestone in Temple Bar and spread like a cancer throughout the city centre. Of course there will be an increased number at this time of year. They rely on people's good nature and festive cheer/pity to make a quick buck. I spoke with a cashier in a city centre O'Briens, location withheld, after she had cashed a beggar out notes for coins. She told me he makes about €200 a DAY folks...

A DAY

begging in his preferred hotspot. She knew him by name and they chatted for a bit. It was clear that this young guy, mid-20's perhaps, was a heavy drug user.

Any Revenue officials out there?

Kernel

jerryadams wrote:

Any Revenue officials out there?

Might be a bit difficult to tax a homeless person! But yeah, they are mostly just parasites and chancers, rather than genuine cases. I just hate the way they prey on people's consciences and goodwill at this time of year, and I really hate the way they think they have a right to your money, or are owed something.

Our man in Havana

I heard they even come from the UK for the lucrative xmas season. :eek:

Its a well known fact in Irish Society, that homeless people only actually exist for the 2 weeks running up the Christmas, so of course you're only going to notice them now ...............

xzanti

Theres a guy who sits in Rathmines and his *thing* is to be armed with a prepacked sandwich and he'll offer it to you.. and tell you someone gave it to him but its no use to him because he needs money for his hostel rather than food, and look all frustrated... I believed him the 1st time and gave him a fiver but a few days later I saw him doing it again.... Its a good tactic I must say... Fair play..

KTRIC

Deleted User wrote:

Its a well known fact in Irish Society, that homeless people only actually exist for the 2 weeks running up the Christmas, so of course you're only going to notice them now ...............

They are being "noticed" because they come out of the woodwork at christmas to take advantage of people, most of these people aren't actually homeless. They are doing this because it is a very lucrative business.

rubadub

xzanti wrote:

Theres a guy who sits in Rathmines and his *thing* is to be armed with a prepacked sandwich and he'll offer it to you..

Thats the way to spot them too, offer to buy them some food or drink, chancers will tell you to f off.
I remember a documentary on UK TV with a guy outside picadilly station making an absolute fortune, the cameras followed him as he left, he got into a nice new BMW and drove off home with his winnings.

fischerspooner

Ok around liffey st., mary st., and abbey st. these days there are women in their 30s or so with their KIDS out on the street begging. They put on these quivering voices as if they're going to burst into tears. It's really disgusting that any kid should have to endure this, the kids look so ashamed. I'm pretty sure that they are travellers from the sound of their accents. In most western countries your kids would be taken off you immedietly, I feel like ringing the garda sometimes but I doubt they'd be interested. Why the hell do we put up with this in Dublin????

el tel

I was parked on Merrion Sq two weeks ago and there was an elderly woman with a tiny baby near my car. It was totally freezing and the baby, who looked just a few weeks old, was barely wrapped up. I got a blanket from my car (a souvenir taken from a plane) and gave it to her for the baby. What was most surprising was she actually seemed annoyed at me for this.

projectmayhem

el tel wrote:

I was parked on Merrion Sq two weeks ago and there was an elderly woman with a tiny baby near my car. It was totally freezing and the baby, who looked just a few weeks old, was barely wrapped up. I got a blanket from my car (a souvenir taken from a plane) and gave it to her for the baby. What was most surprising was she actually seemed annoyed at me for this.

yeah, homeless groups (as in, groups who help lobby for the homeless) say you should never give money. give them a sambo or some coffee... if you were homeless that would probably be more helpful, stops you buying drugs AND keeps you alive.

flogen

Do you know what I hate about christmas beggers? The way they say Merry Christmas to you when you ignore them.]

Hey buddy, I've gone out of my way to avoid eye contact with you so I won't feel quite so bad for leaving you with nothing while I head over to buy overpriced sh1te for my relatives and friends, the last thing I need is you verbally abusing me and making me feel guilty.
These people have no morals.

the_syco

Just tell them to get a job. I'm on min wage, so why the fúck should I give them a cent.

Oh, and some of them want only to stay @ 3 star hostels, as the accomdation that the corpo provides seemingly isn't good enough for some of them, it would seem...:rolleyes:

KTRIC

I think everyone has missed my point. I'm not talking about Junkies', Travellers or Homeless people. The people I'm talking about are settled people that pretent to be homeless to take advantage of the good will at christmas. They are easily spoted by there nice shoes hidden under a dirty blanket and the gold watch on their arm when its extented with a paper cup.

mickymg2003

A few weeks ago i was walking down the street and this guy was sitting in a car and he called me over to his car, he was parked.a 99 Ford and asked me for a tenner so he could get petrol and offered me a "fine used car cd player" just looked at the guy and walked away. And i seen him in the same spot a few hours later and wondered did some innocent pensioner give him some money.I can understand people begging aswell but not when you have a roof over your head. At the supervale beside me there is a woman from mosney where they get a roof over her head and food and money but yet she still sits outside all day and begs.and on weekends she drags her kids along with her.

BrokenArrows

I know this is not begging and the guy is only trying to make a few bucks but its really annoying.

This guy stands outside and around where i work and everytime i go to work or leave or just passing by he starts waving a BigIssue magazine in my face and keeps saying Merry Christmas in very bad english.

Im almost tempted to go up to him and say " remember my face, i dont want a f***ing magazine". Id nearly buy one if he would stop asking.

Gazza22

I was in the city centre today and i must have seen at least 10 of them. They were all dressed in decent clothes and didn't look like they needed the money at all..

These people really annoy me because for one, they discourage people from giving to those who actually need it and because they have the blatant cheek to take advantage of some people's charity.

/moves fingers together, i do be this close to confronting some of them on it, but i couldn't be bothered as i'd say alot of people can judge them for what they really are themselves.

If you see any of these people, completely ignore them...utter parasites! But give generously to those in need!

muckwarrior

Roughly this time last year I was standing outside a spar waiting for my girlfriend, when a guy came up and started talking to me. He was reasonably well dressed and had a posh accent. He started askin me what I did, I said IT blah blah... Oh my brothersin IT too, makin 70 grand a year blah blah... As we were talkin he pulls out a paper cup and sits on the ground outside the shop, and proceeds to ask passers by for change! The f*uckin cheek of some people.

KTRIC

muckwarrior wrote:

As we were talkin he pulls out a paper cup and sits on the ground outside the shop, and proceeds to ask passers by for change! The f*uckin cheek of some people.

Thats what I'm talking about :mad:

xzanti

There was a girl sitting outside the Swan Centre in Rathmines last night between two ATM machines literally looking at peoples transactions over their shoulders asking them to break their notes to give her their change... I left the que and went to another machine inside the centre because she was fairly brazen and quite larger than me Twas a first for me anyway

Nightwish

There was a guy in his early 20s at the Luas stop on Abbey St a few weeks ago. He was well dressed and didnt look like he had fallen on hard times. He was being overly friendly to everyone standing at the stop, which made me suspicious of him. He was helping people use the ticket machine and then asking them if they could spare 50 cent for his ticket. When I went to use the machine, he tried to help me, so I told him that I was already proficient in the use of automated ticket machines. He turned to my boyfriend and asked him for 50 cent too. He obliged and then we got on the Luas. I noticed that this guy didnt even buy a ticket or didnt get on the tram ...then I saw the amount of change he had in his pocket. He had bags of it...seemingly he just keeps asking people all day for change for a ticket and was making a LOT of money, going by what I saw.

Bluetonic

jerryadams wrote:

Any Revenue officials out there?

And what exaclty are the revenue going to tax?

Each coin (donation) to a begger is an individual transaction and is well below the treshold for Gift Tax.

Ste.phen

but the 'begger's overall income would probably be high enough to be taxable, no?

Third_Echelon

I live in the city centre and I see this every day of the year nevermind the run-up to christmas. Admitingly there is more around christmas but it is a year round problem....

The same chancers at the same spot day in day out. There is one guy in particular at the atm in the square in temple bar. His story changes every day. Day 1 he's homeless, Day 2 he needs money for the bus to get home, Day 3 he's looking for money for food and a hostel. I asked him one day about his housing situation. He said he was homeless and I asked why the previous day he had asked me for money for a bus to get home? Soon shut up and buggered off.
Thing was he was well dressed. Definitely not homeless. This city is a disgrace with beggers. Its not as apparent in other cities that I have been in across the world....

There has to be some sort of clamp-down on this. Its just damn annoying being asked for money every 20 ft when you walk down the street. Its not exactly the great depression or anything. There are jobs and money readily available. They're just lazy scum. End of story.

Dont get me started on the charity muggers.... They're worse !!!!

el tel

Last Friday afternoon, outside the Tescos on Lwr Baggot St I saw a really well dressed and superbly good-looking blonde girl in her 20s sitting with the cup in her hands. God knows what her situation was but she was one of those girls who would turn a guy's head.

Siogfinsceal

What makes me so mad is that there are people out there horrible enough to pretend to be homeless to make money which means less money goes to the genuinely homeless peopel out there who are freezing and starving. Theres loads of genuinely homless irish people out there esp round georges st its so wrong these people have no conscience. Tho it also makes me mad that the giovernment are so quick to house assylum seekers when our own are out on the streets. Few years ago I was staying at a hostel on georges st it was bout 10pm, freezin cold and I was stnding in a doorway waiting for a mate. A middle aged homeless couple came up. They never asked for a penny just politely asked me to move cos I was standing where they slept. I gave them a tenner which was all I had on me and I felt so sorry for them