Child begging on the street

deadybai

Hi All,

Not sure where to post this so feel free to move it.

Each day when I go to the shop for my lunch I walk past a young (12ish) begging on the street. He is well hiden from the road as he is behind a big electrical box so it is obvious he wants to stay hiden.

Should I report this to the Gardai? Is it illegal for a child to be sitting on the street begging?

Thanks.

snubbleste

Yes. Yes.

BoJack Horseman

Alerting the DSP / community welfare officer may be best.

The kid should be in school at the very least.

biko

Do you reckon it's an Irish child or a Roma kid? Either way it's probably best to alert the Gardai, they'll know who to refer it to.

deadybai

biko wrote: »

Do you reckon it's an Irish child or a Roma kid? Either way it's probably best to alert the Gardai, they'll know who to refer it to.

Yes its more than likely a Roma child.

MistyCheese

Did something new happen today that made you think about contacting the Gardai?

Lapin

Offer to buy him lunch.

If he's genuinely hungry he'll accept.

If he insists on money instead, he's probably being sent out to beg for someone else.

He could be a victim of bullying at school himself, by having his lunch money stolen etc.

Either way its someting for social services to address. Although I wish the poor kid luck dealing with that shower.

deadybai

MistyCheese wrote: »

Did something new happen today that made you think about contacting the Gardai?

No I just started a new job last week and was unsure about what to do.

con___manx1

deadybai wrote: »

Hi All,

Not sure where to post this so feel free to move it.

Each day when I go to the shop for my lunch I walk past a young (12ish) begging on the street. He is well hiden from the road as he is behind a big electrical box so it is obvious he wants to stay hiden.

Should I report this to the Gardai? Is it illegal for a child to be sitting on the street begging?

Thanks.

i seen two kids begging on the hay penny bridge before. someone called the guards and they were takin away. one was maybe 9 and the other was around 12

Gongoozler

I'm always fairly conscious about this kinda thing because you have to wonder are they actually going to be helped if you report it.

There's a few kids playing music and dancing on grafton St lately that is surely against the law, but I don't know enough about it. Performing on the street for money when you're 7 years old? If it is legal, it shouldn't be.

conorh91

con___manx1 wrote: »

i seen two kids begging on the hay penny bridge before. someone called the guards and they were takin away. one was maybe 9 and the other was around 12

Were they sitting astride a big white horse?

dinorebel

Lapin wrote: »

Offer to buy him lunch.

If he's genuinely hungry he'll accept.

If he insists on money instead, he's probably being sent out to beg for someone else.

He could be a victim of bullying at school himself, by having his lunch money stolen etc.

Either way its someting for social services to address. Although I wish the poor kid luck dealing with that shower.

Yep offering to buy a child you don't know lunch is always a good idea.

looking_around

if it was an irish kid, would actually need to think about reporting this? tbh, begging is illegal regardless of age. worse for kids though.
he's likely being made to beg, as kids tend to get more money than adults.

CrazyRabbit

dinorebel wrote: »

Yep offering to buy a child you don't know lunch is always a good idea.

So long as you stay in full public view at all times then it SHOULD be an ok and very decent thing to do.
Another case were public paranoia overrules common sense and prevents someone from being helped.

At the very least I would want to check that the child had somewhere safe to stay & wasn't hungry. I wouldn't call the Gardai, but would get a social worker I know to look into the case.

deadybai

looking_around wrote: »

if it was an irish kid, would actually need to think about reporting this? tbh, begging is illegal regardless of age. worse for kids though.
he's likely being made to beg, as kids tend to get more money than adults.

Sure he could be Irish for all I know. Im just assuming he is a Roma child since there is a Roma adult begging on nearly every street in Waterford and he has dark skin.

suicide_circus

dinorebel wrote: »

Yep offering to buy a child you don't know lunch is always a good idea.

I find they're more receptive to sweets

looking_around

deadybai wrote: »

Sure he could be Irish for all I know. Im just assuming he is a Roma child since there is a Roma adult begging on nearly every street in Waterford and he has dark skin.

that's my point, if you assumed he was irish, you wouldn't need to think if it's wrong. and either would not care..or report it.

sabat

Can people please stop with the whole buy a beggar lunch/a sandwich/mars bar thing? There is literally zero people going hungry because of their financial situation here-in reality there's probably an excess of options available to them.

MarkR

sabat wrote: »

Can people please stop with the whole buy a beggar lunch/a sandwich/mars bar thing? There is literally zero people going hungry because of their financial situation here-in reality there's probably an excess of options available to them.

You've vetted them all? There's always people who slip through the cracks. I'd rather try to help, and be wrong a hundred times, rather than chance a kid going hungry. It doesn't hurt to ask.

sabat

MarkR wrote: »

You've vetted them all? There's always people who slip through the cracks. I'd rather try to help, and be wrong a hundred times, rather than chance a kid going hungry. It doesn't hurt to ask.

If that's the case then why not stand outside the gates of inner-city primary schools and ask there? You'd be more likely to find one hungry or malnourished.

deadybai

looking_around wrote: »

that's my point, if you assumed he was irish, you wouldn't need to think if it's wrong. and either would not care..or report it.

Well your wrong. I don't even see the point in saying that its not even helpful .

MarkR

sabat wrote: »

If that's the case then why not stand outside the gates of inner-city primary schools and ask there? You'd be more likely to find one hungry or malnourished.

Strawman argument. People do go hungry. If I think help is warranted, i'll offer. I'm not fecking superman, trying to right the wrongs of the world. If you don't want to help someone, don't help. No need to tel others they shouldn't.

PizzamanIRL

Ah yeah sure report them which means they will make nothing compared to the few euro they might get from people passing by. Good job.