Dublin's "homeless" Roma

There is a large Roma family in a house in castleknock, no idea who’s paying for it but it ain’t cheap that’s for sure

Out of curiosity I suppose, I have tried to engage some of them in conversation over the last 5 years and the main reaction I got was them waving me away speaking in a foreign language, walking away without delay.

and once or twice I got choice bad language via English, which I won’t repeat.

To boot, the only real bad encounter I had was with a Roma woman flogging the “big issue” near easons on o Connell st. She seemed mentally unstable and tried to hit me.

Tbh I figured the OP was genuinely curious about what their deal is, but having read their subsequent posts, it appears they started this thread only to have yet another pop at “d’immigrants” 🙄

There’s never enough threads for some of people, they want to be special and start their own thread rather than contribute to the many, many threads that make what turns out to be the same point as every other thread already.

Anyways, in this instance it’s a good thing the new site doesn’t auto-subscribe to threads, and chances are I’ll never see this thread again unless I specifically go looking for it 😂

Roma used to come to Ireland and claim asylum back in the day. When the EU expanded in the early 2000's, only Ireland (and maybe the UK) immediately opened up to unrestricted access.

A load of them arrived in and got a shock that, as they were now EU citizens, previously available benefits or routes to benefits were no longer available. (You cannot claim asylum within the EU if you are already an EU citizen). So they ended up on the M50 roundabout for a few weeks. I think they were given transport back home.

If my memory serves me correctly, around the late 2000's there was an epidemic of Roma children begging around Dublin city centre. There were some policies put in plate to try to control this. One, which was not 100% a response to this issue, but it did provide a strong impetus, was making certain benefits dependent on children being in school.

One of them was murdered after being picked up on the street by a well known Dublin psycho from a family of psychos. Many of them have a terrible life and they have little to no prospects. But there isn't really much you can do for them. There are gangs who fly them in, get them to do their dirty work until they are caught and then fly them back out.

And before anyone **** themselves, obviously not all 100% of every single Roma is doing X or Y or Z

You should have been keeping your eyes on the road instead of trying to check out her arse as you were passing. Then you wouldn't have crashed!

I spend a lot of time in Dublin city centre and there has certainly been an extraordinary jump in numbers.

The gathering in Moore St started during lockdown when there was very few places open and very few people about.

It is really up the management of the shops. It is illegal for people to beg within 5m of a shop.

There are two shops near where I work, one always has (multiple) beggars and people collecting for charities outside, it is a 'manager' run Spar and the manager has changed several times over the years. The other shop is family run and they will get rid of any beggar or charity collector within minutes of them settings up. I have see them doing it, it takes nothing more than telling them they are not wanted.

Honestly, I know one or two working in construction. Not a lot of people to be sure, and with those people having to support large extended families the extra income doesn't get them very far but they do exist. They are also extremely unlikely to tell coworkers etc that they are Roma.

As to the general discussion on the thread, the ones that are here are generally members of 2 or 3 large families and largely as part of a multinational begging operation operating out of Romania and to a lesser extent Bulgaria. They live in run-down substandard accomodation in large groups and run begging teams in shifts. When enough of them get in trouble with the gardai for one thing or another, they leave for Romania and are swiftly replaced by another group from the same family and up to the same thing - and on it goes.

With that said for the most part they are not claiming any benefits (usually down to lack of knowledge of the system and failure to satisfy habitual residency clauses) and really do live in destitution while here. Most have severe educational deficits, are illiterate and speak basic English if any. Women in particular have little way out of that lifestyle even if they wanted to leave it - they are taken out of school and married off as early as possible, often relocating to where her husband is especially when married off very young.

The fact that they severely restrict their engagement with outsiders means they can't rely on the support of anyone outside their group, which is often also their extended family. This means there is very little chance of individuals in that lifestyle to escape it really.

Are they ever going to integrate? Unlikely. Are they as a community with some exceptions generally taking the piss? Yes. Do they hold their own people back when adhering to this lifestyle? Most definately. However individuals in that life often have few options by the time they are in a position to theoretically make choices - they get by in what way they can, same as everyone else. It doesn't make them our problem but why they do what they do makes a lot more sense when you look at all the factors stacked against them (both by others and by themselves).