Pádraig Mac Lochlainn (Donegal North East, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Like everybody here today I find the issue of begging deeply troubling. On the way to the hotel where I stay when I am in Dublin on Dáil duty, I come across a plethora of people who are begging, some of whom are aggressive and others who are passive. Every now and again I feel obliged to help because that is what a person would want for their brother or sister if in that situation. At other times my thinking is that if a person were to give to every begging person, they could quickly become homeless themselves. That is the scale of the problem on our streets. Everything that has been said by the delegates resonates with my own experience of this issue. It is a complex and troubling issue but it is also not unique to Ireland. As this is obviously an issue in other cities, have the organisations researched international experience in this area?