Charity comes to rescue of ‘new poor’ as man found living in car

CHARITY St Vincent de Paul has rescued a man who ended up living in a car for four months after falling into financial difficulties.

The married man had developed a serious alcohol problem after he lost his job and had been asked by his wife to leave the family home. Regional president Brendan Dempsey said a concerned local, who had watched him in the car for several nights, contacted the charity. The man is now living at the 51-bed Deer Park House in Friars Walk where key workers are hoping to eventually re-integrate him back to a more normal life.

Mr Dempsey says this man is just one of thousands of the “new poor” St Vincent de Paul have met since the economy collapsed. He is increasingly concerned that “something has to be done by the Government for these poor families” whose worlds have been turned upside down by unemployment and debt.