Gabrielle McFadden (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael)
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This is my first meeting with this committee but I do not have a lot of experience of the Dublin situation as I am a country Deputy. I have no problem with passive begging, although it bothers my conscience and I feel bad for the people. My worry about aggressive begging comes from my constituency - I presume it is the same in Dublin - where people are transported into the area in an organised fashion by a group or by the "boss". They are dropped off, left to beg and are then collected in the evening. They must collect a certain amount of money by the time they return. Quite often in those situations, women carrying young children are used. It is often alleged that the children are given something to keep them passive and sleeping during the day so that the parents can beg. Do the organisations represented here today have any experience of this or is it a prevalent issue for them?