"Peter" (24), from Smithfield in Dublin, has been homeless for "the last nine or 10 years". He has also been using heroin for the past decade. Kitty Holland reports
"I've been using since I got kicked out of my gaff by my mother and her fella. I was stealing bill money and getting into stupid trouble. When I got kicked out I got in with the wrong types I suppose".
The amiable, cheerful young man said he had just started on a methadone maintenance programme at Trinity Court drug treatment centre, having waited eight months for a place. Although he gets 20ml of methadone a day he also uses "about three bags" of heroin daily, at a cost of about €50.
"I wouldn't use just anywhere. I'd go to abandoned places, down laneways. There's plenty of them," he said. He frequently used around drugs around the Thomas Street area
"I just get my stuff, the works, lay it all out, cook up and bang it in. I'm not worried about it being dirty, no. Like, I was worried once I might get hepatitis."
Asked about the gardaí, he said some "give you no chance" while there are a few nice ones.
He himself has never been arrested for drug use, although he has heard of others being arrested and searched. No garda would ever approach an addict who was actually injecting, he said.
"Anyone with a needle who's getting the drugs into them is probably 'dying sick' [suffering withdrawals]. If a garda came up to them and tried to take it off them the person is going to hold the needle in their face and say 'I'll give you AIDS' or something like that."
He is most often harassed about begging and says he shouldn't be.
"I'm an addict. An addict will do anything for drugs. Would they prefer us to go and steal off an old one or something?
"Some guards arrest you for begging. Most tell you to move on. I tell them 'I only need another €3, give us a chance. I'll only be a minute.' They're always hassling you.
"There are some nice ones though, yeah. Some who say, 'Hi, Peter. You know the story. I'll be back this way in an hour. If you want to move away for a few minutes you can come back then.' You get to know them and they're bang on." Almost all the young homeless people he knows are drug-users.
"I think most people who use drugs who are homeless use drugs because that's all there is to do.
"I do want to get off drugs. I hate drugs. I have a disease I can never get rid of. I've lost my family. It's a horrible life."