Picture of Sam a reminder of the reality of homelessness

Denise Carroll of the Homeless Street Cafe with Helena and Sam on Grafton St, Dublin. Picture: Moya Nolan

You won’t know ‘Sam’, but you might remember him.

Last October, a photograph showing a small boy from the back eating a plate of pasta off a cardboard sheet laid on the pavement went viral on social media.

While the image provided a stark reminder of the reality of homelessness, its impact must be weighed against the pride of a mother who never expected these difficulties, who is striving for better.

Helena now admits she was overwhelmed when the photograph went viral.

Helena and Sam (not his real name) are now living in emergency accommodation. But she wasn’t always that lucky. The little family were regulars at services including the Homeless Street Cafe. It prompted serious questions over where we are as a country.

Tánaiste Simon Coveney told the Dail the situation depicted in the grainy photograph was “not acceptable”.

However, Helena feels her situation has not improved enormously since, even though they were referenced in a pre-election radio debate involving Taoiseach Leo Varadkar.

“I can’t believe it,” Helena says of the photograph. “My son. I was nervous. I didn’t know who made that picture.

“I say it is too much. I say my son will not be on the street. It is not who we are. I didn’t feel comfortable.”

Yet it was “overwhelming” for Helena. At the exact moment the picture was taken, she was trying to dissuade Sam from eating his dinner while seated on the cardboard.

“I was tired,” she says. “I was saying: ‘Please do not stay on the ground.’ ”

Since then, they have still utilised some of the services available to people who need supports, including food provision.

When asked if she is optimistic, Helena replies : “I must be.”

Yet moments later she harks back a few months: “I was crying alone on the street. If we pray to God, the situation will change. We must pray to God.”

Asked about the fact that the Taoiseach made a reference to their situation in advance of the election, she nearly bursts with incredulous laughter.

“Tell him my address!” she scoffs. “Tell him my phone number!”

Meanwhile, the country’s first homeless night cafe saw an increase in the number of unique users of the service last year.

The Merchant’s Quay Ireland (MQI) night cafe in Dublin city centre had 2,231 unique clients across the year, of whom 450 were women. The figure for 2018 was 2,105 unique clients.

However, the number of referrals to the facility dropped last year to 21,014, from 21,684 in 2018.

Accommodation at the night cafe involves mats on the floor. MQI has, along with other homeless accommodation providers, been involved in strenuous Covid-19 contingency measures over recent weeks.

The latest annual figures from the night cafe also show a fall in the overall number of visits and a corresponding drop in the number of average nightly presentations.