The son of woman who was found dead in her tent on a busy Dublin street said they had âtried so hardâ to get her off the streets but the system âfailed herâ.
Natasha Smith (43) was a mother of two and originally from Clondalkin. She was found unresponsive on Pearse Street around 12.30pm on Friday, January 16th. She had been living on the streets for 17 years.
Stephen, her youngest son who turns 21 next month, said her life unravelled after she had two children.
âHer life was going so well. She had Lee my brother who is less than two years older than me, who was in hospital for five months after being born due to having a severe case of meningitis. Then she became pregnant with me and she just changed, according to my nanny. No one could understand why,â he said.
âShe went from being such a funny and happy person to not being able for a settled life. Mam left our father and went out on to the streets and she started on drugs.
âThe drugs didnât kill her, it was because she wouldnât sleep in hostels or homeless centres as she felt really unsafe. She felt safer in her tent and living out of that.
âBut the one thing she did for Lee and I was to ensure that our nanny and grandad were able to bring us up and not end up out on the streets with her. She gave us the best start in life. I will be forever thankful for that.â
Her sons and many family members tried everything to convincer her to come back home and live in Clondalkin, but she âjust wouldnâtâ.
âWe looked after her on the streets as best we could. Lee, our nanny and I would bring her in food, money and clothing,â he said.
[ Carmel was in her 60s when she suddenly found herself homelessOpens in new window ]
âWe continually asked her to come home, gave her every opportunity to get treatment but she just wouldnât. None of us could understand why, but in the end we had to accept and respect her choices. It wasnât easy to allow her be like that. She was really loved.â
Smith was from a family of six sisters and one brother. Her son Stephen, who still lives in Clondalkin, said that the family are âso, so grateful for the outpouring of support in every way possible from members of the public, the homeless organisations, A Lending Hand and Liberty Soup Run.â
But he said they needed wider support to help their mother.
âThe system of dealing with homelessness and all that comes with that most definitely failed her. None of the family want to lay blame but someone or some organisation somewhere needs to take over when a person canât help or wonât help themselves,â he said.
âWhether you are living on the streets out of choice or not, or as a result of some type of an addiction and you are living in the aftermath of that, no one deserves to die on the streets.
âDo you think we liked seeing our mother living like that, of course not, but what else could we do? We tried everything. Itâs been a really tough couple of weeks, as Lee and I lost our other nanny too.â
Smith was found in her tent by her boyfriend and emergency services were alerted and she was subsequently taken to St Jamesâs Hospital where she was officially pronounced dead.
âTonight (Wednesday) all the family are coming here to where I live with my nana and grandad as mam will be at home with us for two days before her funeral mass on Friday. It will be really lovely to have her home at last,â Stephen Smith said.
Keira Gill, the founder of A Lending Hand, a Dublin based volunteer outreach group which has been operating for more than a decade, said that putting groups of grown women in a room in a hostel or accommodation together is ânever going to workâ.
Gill noted: âWe simply donât have the right on-site supports and this causes so many problems that women like Natasha feel safer in a tent. They are literally risking their lives to feel safe.â
The familyâs GoFundMe fundraising campaign has now reached â¬10,000 and they have closed it down as it is enough to pay for her funeral.
Smithâs funeral will take place on Friday at the Immaculate Heart of Mary Church at 11.30am followed by a cremation at Newlands Cross Crematorium.
