Garda tickets charity van aiding rough sleepers
The van is funded by the Department of Social Protection and the department’s logo is clearly visible on the emergency vehicle.
On Thursday at 2.15am, gardaí were attempting to move a group of homeless people from an area in Dublin City centre.
Inner City Helping Homeless (ICHH) had just delivered food and clothes to the people and when they noticed the gardaí attempting to move the group, they queried their actions.
There was previously an agreement between the charity and the gardaí to engage with homelessness services, rather than displace people, when there are no rough-sleeper beds available.
On Wednesday night and early Thursday morning, there were no beds for men available.
During the early-morning engagement, a member of An Garda Síochána noticed the charity’s outreach van parked on a double yellow line and began issuing a ticket to the vehicle.
“Our outreach worker recorded an incident on the night which was out of the norm,” said ICHH CEO Anthony Flynn.
“We have been given previous assurances that rough sleepers, rather than be displaced, would be engaged with services across the city. There was an issue regarding the placement of our vehicle, which is clearly marked Emergency Vehicle, and it was on hand to provide assistance to rough sleepers.”
Mr Flynn had just returned from a meeting in the European Parliament on homelessness when the incident occurred.
In 2014, the charity was at the forefront of a national campaign to address the homeless crisis following the death of Jonathan Corrie outside Leinster House.
A spokesman for An Garda Síochána said the gardaí on the night were responding to reports about the area where the homeless group was sleeping.
“A number of reports have been received from the public regarding the current condition of this particular area and the dangers caused to the public by items discarded there,” said the spokesman.
He added that An Garda Síochána has a “strong working relationship” with the management of ICHH and will continue to work closely with the charity.
Mr Flynn said the charity often has to stop its vehicle suddenly due to the nature of the work.
“Our teams take every effort to ensure safe and proper parking but may have to stop suddenly in order to facilitate clients,” said Mr Flynn.
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