Hahahahahaha you haven't got a clue because you haven't walked in their shoes. Pull up yourselves by the bootstrap mentality. Nice one. If you lived a day in that type of life you would crumble. The lack of self esteem and pure ignorance that is prevalent in those situations is what makes someone survive it. You should sign up for that compassion training they were providing in your department when they had the recession hit. Might take that Fine Gael attitude from you. There for but the grace of god go you. Hope you never end up that down in sorts that you dont have to deal with a person like yourself when your cold and starving. Oh and by the way, you don't need to be homeless to be living in poverty. Having a roof over your head just means that you have a safe place to be. You still have to heat and power the bloody thing.