Do not give beggers money, says Big Issue founder

THE founder of The Big Issue magazine, sold by homeless people in Britain and Ireland, has said people who give beggars money are only making their problems worse.

John Bird, previously a beggar for 20 years, called for the enforcement of laws to allow the removal of people sleeping rough on the streets. He also called on the British government to provide better accommodation for vagrants.

“I have never met a healthy beggar who was healthy a year later. By our gifts, we give them a reason to be on the street rather than in an environment where they could be helped,” Mr Bird said.

“People who give are murdering whatever chance those people have of getting off the streets. By giving them money, you are effectively cementing them onto the streets because you are not giving them an alternative to street existence,” he said.

The holder of an MBE, Mr Bird was writing in a pamphlet for the conservative think-tank Politeia.

A version of The Big Issue was published in Ireland during the 1990s and Issues was launched here a few years ago.

It is sold on the street by unemployed and homeless people, with a large number of immigrant vendors. The magazine’s slogan is ‘a hand up, not a handout’.

Mr Bird said his country’s government should stop the need for people sleeping rough by providing somewhere safe for people to go.

At least 5,000 people are believed to be homeless in Ireland, many of them being turned away from sheltered accommodation because of overcrowding.

Almost 50 homeless children were among more than 1,300 young people seen begging on Dublin streets by volunteers with the ISPCC’s Leanbh project in the past year. The scheme tries to discourage children from begging, offering them therapeutic services and outreach to families.

ISPCC directors also ask people not to give money to children begging or to adults who are begging in the company of young children.