TV documentary explores a year in the life of the homeless on the streets of the capital

“I’M unhappy, I’m miserable, I want my life back, I want a better life, I want to get a job back, have a good life again, and that’s the bottom line”.

Those heart-rending words, spoken by John Costello, from Listowel, while sitting on the cold ground outside the Centra on Exchequer Street in Dublin, will hit home to many people who are concerned about homelessness.

John features in the documentary Am I Here? on RTÉ1 on Monday at 9.35pm, in which a diverse group of individuals, who all live on or off the streets of Dublin, reflect on what life is really like.

The programme explores a year in the life on the streets of Ireland’s capital, making visible the lives and stories that thousands of feet walk past every day.

Kerryman John laments the difference between the perception others have of him versus his reality. He feels he, and others, have been pushed to the side by those who think, ‘they’re alright, they can sleep in their sleeping bags, they can sleep in their tents and they can tap on the side of the street with their cups. They’re happy doing that, taking their drugs, they’re alright’.

When the reality is, as John outlines, that’s not the case, at all.

We also hear the stories of Emma and Carrie.

Each person we hear from wants a better life. This common human desire for something better is the impulse for telling this story.

At a time when more people live on or off the streets of Dublin since the foundation of the State, this is an opportunity to grant a voice to those in the shadows and make visible the lives and stories that thousands of feet walk past daily.

People also gave accounts of their backgrounds, with family problems and abuse often recurring reasons as to why some people’s lives became very difficult.