Homeless man living in public toilet

A CZECH homeless man has been living in a public toilet in Ennis and would be dead was it not for the church, a district court heard this week.

District Court Judge Patrick Durcan has described the conditions that 58-year-old Josef Pavelka and his friend are living in as a “scandal”.

The details emerged as part of a probation welfare report prepared for Ennis District Court in relation to Mr Pavelka, who appeared on public order matters.

The man’s solicitor, Daragh Hassett, said if it wasn’t for the church in Ennis, Mr Pavelka “would be dead” and he outlined that his client and his friend, a Polish national, have been living in a public toilet.

The same man had been living in a tent during sub-zero conditions in 2010, before being housed for a period at Laurel Lodge, a hostel for the homeless in Ennis, but it has been some time since he resided there.

This year he was driven to the shelter of a public toilet during the sub-zero temperatures.

Speaking about Mr Pavelka’s situation, Mr Hassett told The Clare Champion that his client has been living in these public facilities “during the really harsh weather and apart from that he has been living rough”.

“He is a victim of the recession. He came here to work when there was work. He invested his time and the rest of his life in moving to Ireland as a permanent move and this disappeared overnight. He is an alcoholic and with time on his hands and with no work, lapsed back into bad habits.

“The prospect of going home is very grim because things are worse at home in the Czech Republic. He was a construction labourer and while he had money and a job and accommodation, he didn’t come to court until he got into unemployment.

“There’ll be a view that the likes of him shouldn’t be here but you have homeless people living in Ennis and that’s a reality,” Mr Hassett said.