‘Don’t Give This Homeless Man Money’ – The Statement Heard On Joe Duffy’s Liveline On Monday

Joe Duffy's Liveline was a hard listen on Monday when attention turned to missing people and those living on the street.

The host received a phonecall from a father of a homeless, heroin addict who urged people on air not to give money to addicts who were begging on the streets.

He said that by funding homeless people with addictions, you are fueling their addiction even further.

The father - Frank - said his 23-year-old son is a heroin addict and recently passed him in the street where he begs for money.

However, he believes that his son uses the money that passers-by hand him to purchase drugs.

"When people give the homeless money, they are very often feeding their addiction as they’re well fed through a charity who look after them," Frank told Duffy on Liveline.

Frank is afraid that these donations from the public are putting people's lives at risk, including his son who has been a drug addict for some time now.

"I saw him over the weekend by coincidence. I've been fortunate enough to have spoken to someone who has seen him today so I know he's still alive.

"He's in a poor state of health, he's obviously on heroin... he's in a bad way.

"He's begging to feed his addiction. People are enabling that addiction by giving him money. I don't know what the [solution] is though... if they don't get money will they do something daft?"

"We've closed down our mental health hospitals. They're trying to rejuvenate all our city centres but these people who are too dysfunctional to be homed in a housing shelter are left to die on the streets.

"You wake up everyday [worrying]... there was a flood there a few nights ago and he was camping near a river and the first thing I thought was 'did the flood take him away'?"

You can listen to the full interview here, it starts around the 30 second mark.