He’s been homeless on and off for two decades and now Gerard Tynan beds down under a railway bridge above a beach on millionaires’ row.

Mr Tynan (46) says he’s afraid he won’t live much longer, but he wakes every morning with the most expensive sea view at Killiney Beach in south Co Dublin.

Bono is a neighbour and Mr Tynan says he sometimes sees the rock star walking on the beach. “That’s Bono’s house up there,” Mr Tynan said, pointing upwards.

“He doesn’t speak to me, but it’s not up to the rich like him to sort this problem out. They’re private citizens, they pay their way.

Please log in or register with Independent.ie for free access to this article.

Log In

New to Independent.ie? Create an account

“It’s the Government who should be looking after their citizens. We are in the richest part of the country here. This is our Bay of Naples.

“People aren’t blind, they see what’s going on, how people are living. There’s something wrong with our society to let people live like this. I need somewhere to live.”

Mr Tynan is just one among the human crisis all across Ireland. Tent communities spring up in the suburbs while a charity has warned of a “bottleneck” in the emergency accommodation system.

The spotlight is now centred on rough sleeping after a homeless man was hospitalised last week suffering life-changing injuries after an industrial vehicle removed the tent where he was sleeping.

With a shortage of long-term stable homes, it’s feared the crisis could get worse.

“I nearly lost an eye in a hostel before. I won’t return to one,” Mr Tynan told the Irish Independent, as he welcomed us into his ramshackle home, around 10m above the beach.

A knife scar visible on his cheek is the result of a wound inflicted by a man he thought was his friend, Mr Tynan said.

“Because of that, because of how it looks, people think I’m bad,” Mr Tynan said. “I’m not. I want to have a normal life, to have a stable home, to work, but I think I’ll die here.

“I was only a young man when I broke the law and ended up in prison,” he said. “If I’d got help, I could have gone on and got married, had a family, but I came out with nowhere to live.”

Speaking about the broad issue of people sleeping rough or in tents, a Dublin Simon Community spokeswoman said: “Hostels are not homes. They’re intended for short-term stays while we find appropriate long-term accommodation for our clients.

“However, what we’re seeing now is a bottleneck in the emergency accommodation system, whereby clients become stuck in hostels because there’s no appropriate accommodation for them to move on to.

“Some clients prefer to remain in tents or sleep rough than to accept a bed in a hostel. They may have had bad experiences in the past or have personal reasons for choosing to remain outside.

“Our outreach team, in partnership with the DRHE, link in with these people on a daily basis.

“Some of our clients who are rough sleeping prefer to bed down in suburban areas outside of the city because they feel safer.”

Source: Read Full Article