PICS: Inside The Wooden ‘Shelter Pod’ On Molesworth Street, Where Columb Spends His Days And Nights

Earlier this evening, we ran an article on the site written by Columb Fogarty – a writer who is currently homeless, living in a ‘shelter pod’ on Molesworth Street.

You can read it here.

The box was one of four installed by Gimme Shelter Ireland, in part to raise awareness in the run-up to the General Election, and in part to provide some reprieve from the harsh elements of the early Irish spring.

Since he started sleeping in the box, Columb has written a series of messages on the outside of the structure, to highlight his own plight and that of the many thousands who share in his situation.

We asked photographer Fran Veale to document these, as well as the conditions on the inside of the box.

• OPINION: Until Dublin Gets Serious About Tackling Homelessness, It Can Never Call Itself A Truly Great City

“The sun is shining in Dublin City but a dark cloud hangs over me and my wooden box, where do I go from here? Minute by minute, hour by hour, I do not know what my situation is going to change into.

“Are the Gardaí, Government, society, going to get sick of the sight of the eyesore in front of Leinster House? Its mirror image, the true reflection of what’s really happening in this city on a daily basis?”

Columb Fogarty

According to Gimme Shelter Ireland, who built the box:

We built these pods to provide some semblance of security for a fraction of the people sleeping rough in Dublin. We would have built more but four is all we could afford.

We know these pods are not a sustainable solution to the homelessness crisis – and anyway, sleeping in a cold plywood box is only marginally better than sleeping on the street. We built them because we were saddened and ashamed of the State’s efforts, or lack thereof, to tackle homelessness. 

They have a petition on their site calling for a referendum to enshrine a right to housing in the Irish Constitution, which you can sign here.

• READ NEXT: I Live In A ‘Shelter Pod’ At The Steps Where Jonathan Corrie Died. Do I Deserve To Exist This Way?
• OPINION: Until Dublin Gets Serious About Tackling Homelessness, It Can Never Call Itself A Truly Great City

Photos by Fran Veale

Columb Fogarty
homelessness