Belvedere Students Criticised for Sleepout

MadsL

Apparantly Irish Times poet and posh girl Rosita Boland believes Belvo students are not suffering enough.

http://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/is-a-school-sleepout-best-way-to-raise-awareness-of-homelessness-1.2047725

Clearly the level of schoolchildren's comfort, texting and chocolate are the key issues in the issue of homelessness.

Obnoxious article...(The opinion piece isn't great either)


Oh and...

https://twitter.com/RositaBoland/status/547343118014898176

"And the irony is, they're actually taking up space where real homeless people sleep."

Oh Jesus....facepalm.

tritium

MadsL wrote: »

Apparantly Irish Times poet and posh girl Rosita Boland believes Belvo students are not suffering enough.

http://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/is-a-school-sleepout-best-way-to-raise-awareness-of-homelessness-1.2047725

Clearly the level of schoolchildren's level comfort, texting and chocolate are the key issues in the issue of homelessness.

Obnoxious article...(The opinion piece isn't great either)

Looks to me at least like the Irish times displaying its *ahem* quality again. Funny how for Rosita homelessness is now a crisis-when did that happen,did the numbers suddenly rise or has this been at crisis levels for a number of years? Tbh I'd be more concerned that there's so little resources to address many of the underlying issues that led to homelessness- domestic violence, addiction, mental illness and the rest, than that a group of kids are trying to help out. I can't help but wonder if the perceived social demographic of the students hasn't influenced her to write this piece...

Dravokivich

MadsL wrote: »

Oh and...

https://twitter.com/RositaBoland/status/547343118014898176

"And the irony is, they're actually taking up space where real homeless people sleep."

Oh Jesus....facepalm.

Too right, because there's not enough doorways on the streets... :rolleyes:

conorh91

It's a bit tokenist alright, but no harm done.

She's scraping the bottom of the barrel with that "deyr takin r space" argument though. Dublin isn't exactly experiencing a portico-famine, although I'm sure that other sh1tehawk Una Mullaly will be writing about that when it happens...

LeinsterDub

In fairness to the belvo lads they've been doing this long before homelessness was the hot button topic and will be doing it for long after it's no longer a hot button topic

ProfessorPlum

MadsL wrote: »

"And the irony is, they're actually taking up space where real homeless people sleep."

Oh Jesus....facepalm.

Have the Belvedere lads turned away the real homeless people who wanted to sleep there? No? Didn't think so.

The Belvo sleepover has been highlighting and raising money for homelessness in Dublin for as long as I can remember. The lads do a great job. The fact that they have chocolate and iPhones shouldn't take away from that.

I wonder if her indignation would be so intense had the lads been from a school in a deprived area.

MadsL

LeinsterDub wrote: »

In fairness to the belvo lads they've been doing this long before homelessness was the hot button topic and will be doing it for long after it's no longer a hot button topic

Yeah, jumping on the bandwagon 31 years ago. Fuxing Hipsters.

W.B. Yeats

The sleepout has been ongoing since the late 80's- the boys have collected for Peter McVerry and St Stan for a long time and have slept outside the Dail, the GPO, the BoI and others in that time
Her question seems to be is there a better way of raising awareness of homelessness? (while also giving a jab at the conditions they are sleeping out in- not authentic enough for her liking)- that's not a bad question to raise but it's a pity that it gets lost.
She largely glosses over the significant funds raised and the fact that this is an issue that the school has supported for many years.
She's entitled to her opinion but it strikes me as being nit picky and mean spirited with a good dose of chip on her shoulder thrown in.

Magico Gonzalez

I get it, she doesn't think they're suffering enough so she wrote this dribble so that we could all understand what suffering is after reading it.

Hande hoche!

But what does Una Mulally think?

tricky D

ProfessorPlum wrote: »

Have the Belvedere lads turned away the real homeless people who wanted to sleep there? No? Didn't think so.

Correct. I remember befriending Christy at the sleepout back in the mid 80's and often bumped into him for a few years afterwards on the street.

That Boland one should educate herself on the other acts Belvederians partake in like the excellent V de P work done during and out of term by providing companionship to the lonely and elderly in particular and others in hardship (some heart-breaking stuff you wouldn't believe), and also the Christmas dinner they hold in the school. I might have lost touch with my alma mater but would assume these are still done.

Late in the 80's iirc/after my time, the school also was one the early ones to take in less well off kids from the locality and provide them with scholarships of a sort.

So Boland should stick that in her pipe and smoke it or better, put the keyboard away and do something positive.

Edit: also, fwiw, one of the main drivers behind the boards Santa Strike Force was also educated there which might explain a bit.

LawlessBoy

Putting homeless people out? walked past them earlier on college green and they had homeless sleeping beside them! hardly putting them out

Greenmachine

Leave them to it. While I wouldn't be particularly fond of any self-promotion that some people do on facebook, their hearts are in the right place.

DuchessduJour

Absolutely ridiculous article without even the most basic measure of cop on. The Belvedere lads have been doing this sleepout every year for decades, even when homelessness wasn't on the minds of people as much as it might be recently. What exactly does she want, for them to actually become homeless and experience the level of hardship endured by homeless people? Would that validate it?

Fair play to them, they raise a lot of money and awareness and it's not something that everyone's doing. They're just kids too and I think it's lovely to see that their school encourages them to be socially conscious and charitable.

Kermit.de.frog

TBF it can only be good for them to experience themselves the lives of some of the peasantry once a year. I think it's a jolly good thing to do.

suicide_circus

Hande hoche! wrote: »

But what does Una Mulally think?

No one gives two shiits

tricky D

Kermit.de.frog wrote: »

TBF it can only be good for them to experience themselves the lives of some of the less fortunate thoughout the whole year. I think it's a jolly good thing to do.

FYP

Cathy.C

I gave them a few quid last night and as I was doing so, was also keeping my eye out to see if I could spot Keith Duffy's son, as Keith had said on TLLS that he was one of the students that sleeping out. Didn't manage to but I see from the following article today that he doesn't really look too like him.

goss.ie/2014/12/keith-duffys-son-jay-is-sleeping-on-the-streets-this-christmas-its-tough/

tikkahunter

She is a stuck up geebag who is out of touch , ****ing hell criticizing people who are trying to help less fortunate.

For Forks Sake

Hande hoche! wrote: »

But what does Una Mulally think?

No-one, and I mean no-one, gives a flying f*ck.

She'll probably try to shoehorn some convoluted subjugation of wimmins spin into the fact it was an all-lads school.

anncoates

When middle class liberals start fighting over who most Keeps It Real it can get nasty.

To be fair, I suppose a load of Jesuit educated kids doing that is almost a comic liberal cliche, or maybe for some even a future CV padding exercise but I think it's still good to see kids with a social conscience. God knows there's worse little fcukers out there.

Kermit.de.frog

Hande hoche! wrote: »

But what does Una Mulally think?

Who's Una Mulally?

NoMore MrNiceGuy

Hande hoche! wrote: »

But what does Una Mulally think?

Surely Una would argue that we should move on from fetishing the privileged White male homeless , who are still beneficiaries of patriarchy, and worry about her and her oppression.

anncoates

Kermit.de.frog wrote: »

Who's Una Mulally?

Rhymes with doolally.

hotmail.com

I wonder how many Belvadere graduates later try to avoid paying tax.

h2005

hotmail.com wrote: »

I wonder how many Belvadere graduates later try to avoid paying tax.

humberklog

I work in the city and late last night I was in a spar where there was a large gang of the guys buying stuff. Big guys too. They were chatting about the night ahead and how best to get money from people (approach, speel etc.).

They came across as thoroughly sound, decent and right minded young lads.

What a nasty, meely mouthed article in The Irish Times.

Venus In Furs

Ew, really can't abide preachy tripe from people (usually from comfortable middle-class backgrounds - like myself btw) who aren't doing anything about the issue in question either.
Those lads are doing a lot more than she and similar columnists, writers on Rabble etc are doing, the most of which is blaming "society" (but not themselves) and bitching about middle-class people (apart from themselves).

hfallada

hotmail.com wrote: »

I wonder how many Belvadere graduates later try to avoid paying tax.

As much as any other person in Ireland. How is this relevant? The rich often prefer giving minimal taxes to the government and prefer spending the money they would spend on taxes, more efficiently than the government. Eg warren buffet pays less tax than his secretary but is giving all his wealth to charity.

Even in the boom we still had a massive homeless problem. So your point is kinda irrelevant

Robsweezie

let no good deed go unpunished.....

Sala

It's a great way to raise money and a great way to get young people involved and to engage with social problems. I'd say lots of those kids feel they are involved in something very important and will carry that with them in the future - much more successful than just asking them to bring in a few quid and them forgetting about it later, this is making them think, to associate with and understand homelessness, to really engage with the problem, and try to raise money as well. Fair play to them all

Montroseee

This has to do with social class. The author is quite clearly green-eyed and begrudges those with enough disposable income to send their sons' to a top private school.

Venus In Furs

Montroseee wrote: »

This has to do with social class. The author is quite clearly green-eyed and begrudges those with enough disposable income to send their sons' to a top private school.

Seems like she's middle-class herself and self loathing, wishing she had a "grittier"/"edgier", more "real" upbringing... the way I wished that but got over it by 19/20.

Berserker

Montroseee wrote: »

This has to do with social class. The author is quite clearly green-eyed and begrudges those with enough disposable income to send their sons' to a top private school.

Belvo has some non fee paying students too but I agree that is pure begrudgery. They have been doing the sleepout for decades and will continue to do it for many decades to come.

weldoninhio

I don't see how Kodaline singing, or the Edge turning up to hang out with some kids is going to help the homeless massively.

It seems like a kick in the teeth to homeless too. I have a home, but I'm staying out for a night or two.

sabat

https://twitter.com/RositaBoland/status/547343118014898176

I walked past the BoI about half an hour ago and there's about an equal number of students and "regular" homeless people (maybe 6 of each) all bunked down side by side together sharing the same space and sleeping materials...
I think Ms Boland was probably walking to work hungover with a deadline looming and zero ideas in her head so she just had a snarky pop at the first thing she saw.

goose2005

tritium wrote: »

Looks to me at least like the Irish times displaying its *ahem* quality again. Funny how for Rosita homelessness is now a crisis-when did that happen,did the numbers suddenly rise or has this been at crisis levels for a number of years? Tbh I'd be more concerned that there's so little resources to address many of the underlying issues that led to homelessness- domestic violence, addiction, mental illness and the rest, than that a group of kids are trying to help out. I can't help but wonder if the perceived social demographic of the students hasn't influenced her to write this piece...

It's pretty funny (not really) that everyone is all of a sudden noticing how bad homelessness is. We had a Homeless Summit on December 4th!! where were all these people in August, when there was time to plan? Will we be having a Snow Summit on January 5th, trying to scrape together cash to get a snowplough off the Swedes?

This is not what actual homeless people look like, nor how homeless people live.

Really? I've worked with Simon. Actual homeless people are generally pretty normal. They fiddle with their phones and eat chocolate too.

Rosita wrote a book called Sea Legs: Hitch-hiking the Coast of Ireland Alone. How dare she hitch-hike for recreation, without regard for those who hitch-hike out of necessity!

P_1

Clickbait article which has appeared to have had the desired effect...

bob50

To me those Belverdere lads are great in what they do They are not out to patronise the homless, these boys raise great money for Peter mcverry trust. and i think they are really understanding of their plight. It must me hard for them to " sleep rough" when they have all the mod cons at home

Keep up the good work lads #

dublinman1990

I do think the guys at Belvedere do a amazing amount of work in highlighting homelessness for the less fortunate by doing this with a sleepover every single year.

They really have a real sense of humanity that is both kind and incredibly generous. A Happy Christmas to all of them at Belvedere.

The One Doctor

Looks like the IT is going the way of the Indo.

Pity.

shalalala

I look after kids for their debs and graduations. Year after year the belvedere lads are the most polite and down to earth and credit where credit is due they raise a lot in a non threatening way and highlight a problem at a time of year when people are feeling most generous.

jack presley

The One Doctor wrote: »

Looks like the IT is going the way of the Indo.

Pity.

Well to be fair we haven't heard Rosanna Davison's spin on it yet so they're not quite there yet.

Jawgap

Pure tokenism. This year it seems to have attracted an even more useless bunch of celebrity hangers-on.

If they really want to help the homeless, then at least open the school over the Christmas break and allow it to be used to help people on the streets.

Or.......go to a 'normal' school and have Mummy and Daddy donate the fees to a homeless charity of their choice.

mikemac1

Jawgap wrote: »

Pure tokenism. This year it seems to have attracted an even more useless bunch of celebrity hangers-on.

If they really want to help the homeless, then at least open the school over the Christmas break and allow it to be used to help people on the streets.

Or.......go to a 'normal' school and have Mummy and Daddy donate the fees to a homeless charity of their choice.

It's not all they do. The lads from the school can often be seen on O'Connell Bridge between 8am - 9am giving out hot drinks and sandwiches.

They've been involved in this area for years and working quietly before every columnist hack in the papers started writing about it and screaming for others to do more

Jawgap

mikemac1 wrote: »

It's not all they do. The lads from the school can often be seen on O'Connell Bridge between 8am - 9am giving out hot drinks and sandwiches.

They've been involved in this area for years and working quietly before every columnist hack in the papers started writing about it and screaming for others to do more

Well done them. Why O'Connell Bridge? If the want to PM me I can give them a list of areas where rough sleeping is much more prevalent, just a bit more low profile.......

Instead of 36 hours at Christmas why don't they do one hour a week say helping to clean in some of the hostels, or helping prepare food - maybe some of the older lads can help those involved with advocacy work? Or is that type of 'background' work lacking in glamour?

Perhaps the school could help anchor families by providing more than the token SDP bursary places they currently provide to the children of families who get back into some form or permanent accommodation?

And perhaps even during the next cold spell they could open up their gym to provide some respite and temporary sleeping accommodation to help get people off the streets during the worst of the weather?

Littlekittylou

This happens with everything. The shoebox collection or any volunteering.

Una Mullaly was NOT sleeping out that night was she nor was she doing anything else. It's a reaction to her own inaction. She sees someone at least trying to do something however imperfectly and realizes she is not.

Good lord there is always one naysayer for all good deeds.

Whatever about the results the good intention is there at least. It's cold and certainly not like true homelessness but certainly not the ritz.

If you are going to do something you have to start somewhere. And starting somewhere no matter how small is better than not doing anything.

Well done to those students.

What a nasty piece to write. It's activities like this that we need to keep their spirits UP for not bring them down. I do hope those students keep their spirits up about it. I am sure they will. It's what it is half about really keep trying to do something ANYTHING even though you know it might not accomplish everything and might be very small because it's better than doing nothing.

Fair play to those young people. I hope someone tells them to keep it up and they have people to rally round keep their spirits up!Never let them get you down! They are DOING something go THEM!

TheBeardedLady

What a horrible, mean-spirited article. Bah feck in' humbug times infinity.

mikemac1

Jawgap wrote: »

Well done them. Why O'Connell Bridge? If the want to PM me I can give them a list of areas where rough sleeping is much more prevalent, just a bit more low profile.......

I said from 8am - 9am. By that time people are awake and you will find people begging on the bridge.

The students are on the bridge as that's where people are. If they were out at 6am they would be somewhere else

So so cyncial to imply the lads are on O'Connell Bridge just so they get seen!

Jawgap

mikemac1 wrote: »

I said from 8am - 9am. By that time people are awake and you will find people begging on the bridge.

The students are on the bridge as that's where people are. If they were out at 6am they would be somewhere else

So so cyncial to imply the lads are on O'Connell Bridge just so they get seen!

Again, if they want to actually intervene in a meaningful way there is so much more they could do - why not, for example, go help from 7 until 8? And if you think O'Connell Bridge is where homeless people congregate in any significant numbers you don't know the city, but as I said it's a place that gets a lot of footfall.

When you boil it back, they are sitting around, rattling buckets to get other people to donate so they can give other people's money to charity. Which is great in as far as it goes - let's not build it up to be any more than that.

Aside from the SDP kids, the rest will return to their comfortable existence to regale friends and family over the Christmas break about their 'time' on the streets.

As I've already pointed out there is tons more they could do with the time committed to this publicity stunt and they could be much more interventionist, and make a meaningful difference in people's lives.

mountaingoats

Horrible article based purely around perceived classism and bandwagon jumping.
I would say if anything its a lazy and selfish effort to pick on an "easy" target of well off kids which in turn is possibly doing more damage to the very real problem of homelessness by diminishing it into an effort to get some clicks.

I went to a normal non-fee paying school but would have been delighted to have been pushed to do something like this and other social efforts.

It seems like Belvedere appears to be quite a nice school which tries to push the responsibility of being in a more comfortable financial position rather than just benefits.

No chance this article would have been written if school was in a more deprived area.