Family of seven sleep in Garda station Mod note post one

anewme wrote: »

That poster has not condemnedher being caught robbing and nit turning up for numerous warrants.

She was caught with stolen property miles from where she lives, ie, those maurading traveller gangs that Operation Thor and the likes target.

She deserves nothing and anyone who feels sorry for her is a fool.

It's your home and your parents/grandparents homes her and her gang are robbing.

mirrorwall14 wrote: »

I have zero issue with this lady being a traveller. I have massive issues with the social welfare system which permits and indeed promotes this.

Personally I'd like to see:
1. An end to the house for life policy. Houses are granted for 6 year tenancies at a time with no caps on rental amounts at all. Then you need to reapply and go back on the list and move out if you have not found work. Thats plenty of time for someone to get retrained/move jobs. If you get a very good job the rising rental amount encourages movement back into the private system. It also means that houses do not become "blocked" by single people after children have left etc. 6 years at a time is long enough for children in school to be settled and moved after 6 years if needs be. Houses at 3-4 beds max. Council houses should not be able to be sold at reduced rates ever and cannot be passed from one generation tot he next. They should go on the market at full rate if the council feels they no longer need it/its not up to scratch. Houses to be granted within 45km of the preferred area (same as the redeployment schemes in the public service). One refusal then you are taken off the list.

2. An outright cap on benefits. No one should be earning more in benefits than an average worker. Set the limit high then lower it. Heck even a 40k limit would eliminate some of these cases without affecting the people who need it most and stop encouraging having more and more children.

3. A severely reducing child benefit amount after the 3/4th child. E.g. Full for 1 and 2, Half for 3 and 4, quarter for 5 and 6. Nothing beyond that.

4. No automatic free travel unless for a specific reason e.g. work, hospital appointments, school buses

5. Medical Card granted with time limits like the house unless in the case of serious illness (not in the case of out of work for example). 6 year time limit then re-application required

Apart from that I do think that we should be pushing for initial 6 months or even 1 year of Job seekers benefit be a proper social welfare net in line with other countries e.g. 70% of income etc. I've no issue with things like carers allowance etc. I don't have any major issues with social welfare nets but I have a massive problem with the current free for all where things are granted and never checked again

Sleeper12 wrote: »

I've a soft spot for SVP. Not a homeless charity. I never miss their Christmas appeal. There are chancers. My own guess is about 10 percent get help that doesn't need it but you can help a small child have a present from Santa. Every child deserves to believe in Santa for a few years imo.

Short story
I heard a young woman on the radio talking about homelessness around the time of Apollo House. She would have been under 20 years of age. As a young teenager she was in a hotel for the best part of a year with her mum. Her mum worked part time. She stayed in the same school and her mum tried to keep her in a good routine. Come November or early December her class made up shoeboxs for homeless children & she participated in this. It was only at Christmas time when she received one of these boxes that she realised for the first time that she was homeless. Her mum had done such a great job protecting her.


That story still puts a smile on my face whenever I think of her it. The innocence of children

Sleeper12 wrote: »

I've seen this put out a lot in the last few days. What was she convicted of?