Tattoo parlour Dublin Ink has said its sprinkler system Was not intended to wet homeless people, but to deter anti-social behaviour

A Dublin Inquirer article found the establishment using the sprinkler system following instances where waste and drug paraphernalia was improperly disposed of outside of the store.

Subsequently, Dublin Ink received an influx of both negative and positive reviews on their Facebook page., before the shop turned reviews off.

"To all of our customers and every one who was effected by the article that was posted in the Dublin Inquirer today; we feel that we owe, not just an apology to anybody that was offended, but an explanation", Dublin Ink said in a statement on their Facebook page. "As of 5 days ago, the sprinklers were disabled.

"Last year, two of our staff members were held hostage in the studio after a man held a blood filled syringe in an attempt to stab them [...] Every morning, our staff members clean blood smears, used condoms, syringes, and other bodily fluids such as faeces off the premises. We have sent petitions to the council and in attempts to contact the right organisations we get passed around from one to the other and the responsibility is continually placed in our hands.

"We would like to stress that we are not anti-homeless. The device is in place to deter drug usage on our premises. We are glad the article has enlightened the situation, we respect everybody's opinion on the issue."

 

Homelessness rates drop

Meanwhile, CEO of the Peter McVerry Trust Pat Doyle responded to the drop in homelessness figures, saying they give rise to "cautious optimism".

“Unfortunately, we’ve been here before and this drop is more likely to be a blip that the start of a trend", he said. "In October 2014, the numbers of families declined very slightly, but then proceeded to rise rapidly thereafter. In December 2015, there was a similar minor reduction, which was followed by a major spike in January 2016 and as we have seen the number of individuals and families in homelessness has risen consistently this year."

Mr Doyle said that the availability of affordable and secure accommodation was the only way in which the figures will start to decline long term.