Joe Purcell, a Dublin actor who stars in HBO’s “Game of Thrones”, has been sentenced to 100 hours of community service for stealing food to feed his family.
Just months after being driven to the set of “Game of Thrones” in Antrim, in a limousine, he was forced to steal groceries to feed his three children.
A mix up with child benefit payments meant that they were sent to the wrong address, leaving Purcell (57) “just desperate” and running out of money.
He told the Irish Independent, “If your children have no food what do you do? if you have no money what do you do?
“I am a thief but there are thieves and there are thieves. It was food I was stealing. I'm not ashamed of it now.
“What man wouldn't (do it) if his children are hungry? When society lets down people at the very lowest level that is what happens.”
Read more: Ten percent of Ireland’s population cannot afford to eat properly
Purcell, from Tallaght in Dublin, told his story as part of a new report commissioned by the Department of Social Protection. This study showed that 430,000 people (10 percent of the population) in Ireland are living in food poverty.
The actor said that in August 2012 he ran out of money and has no money to buy food for his children, aged nine, 11 and 16.
He spent 20 years working in the UK and returned to Ireland five years ago. Purcell says his prospects in the acting profession have dried up.
Purcell’s character in “Game of Thrones” will be featured in the next season of the HBO hit. He told the Irish Independent how strange it is that only months ago he was put up in the Europa Hotel in Belfast and driven around in limousines.
He said, “A couple of months down the road I found myself in a shop stealing. That is the strangeness of it. It's not working, it's just surviving.”
Purcell described getting away with stealing in a store, when he’d only gone in to buy some milk and how in another shop he got caught by a manager stealing some bread rolls, cornflakes and sugar.
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Switch to the desktop site to post a comment.Searlit | Oct 19, 2012, 11:03 PM EDT
EphraimKibbey, I like your post, too.
EphraimKibbey | Oct 19, 2012, 02:31 PM EDT
krisdaly - If you are going to quote the Bible, please get it correct! While the Bible does say "Thou Shall Not Steal," it clarifies "STEAL" in the fine print by saying that it is OK to go into the rich man's field and eat your fill if you are hungry or your kids are hungry. You just can't take his stuff and sell it somewhere or add his sheep to your flock. Christ said that the LAW was made for MAN, not MAN for the Law. Where the Law helps humans it should be followed but where it harms them it is not to be followed. "Stealing" food should never be punished like stealing material goods. So when Romney complains that the 47% think they have a right to food well, according to the Bible, they do have a right to your food Mitt.
EphraimKibbey | Oct 19, 2012, 02:18 PM EDT
Searlit - Be careful, you are using logic and that always gets us in trouble around here.
Searlit | Oct 19, 2012, 11:49 AM EDT
Tiseyerish, I feel for you. Social security would have been a much better program today, if the government had never allowed the deductions taken from our pay to be put in the general funds they used for spending. We lost so much money from that being done. I think it happened under Johnson's administration, if I remember correctly. Also, there would be no problem funding Social security today, if the people who earn above 95,000, (give or take a few thousand here) had to pay the same percentage of their income, as the rest, who make less than that. Take the cap off of Social Security, since it wasn't effective, to begin wth. It's a simple fix, really.
Towngate | Oct 19, 2012, 07:41 AM EDT
séamus60. The source story states it was sent to the 'wrong' address. How many has he got? It would have been sent to where he instructed it ... perhaps this case needs some investigating by the welfare officers! ...And anyway.... he should not be depending on the child benefit alone to feed his children. He needs a go0d kick in the craic!
TisEyerish | Oct 18, 2012, 11:23 PM EDT
I'm sorry, but I fail to understand how this man ran out of money. What did he do with the money he earned for appearing in "Game of Thorns"? I don't have HBO, so I haven't seen this...if it was a series, he was drawing a weekly salary and I would bet each check would have been enough to feed his family for several months. Poor money management or did he just buy whatever the heck he felt like buying, not giving a thought to the future? I understand him stealing to feed his children, but not what led up to it. As a person who lost her job due to down-sizing after the bank disaster (which also raped and plundered my 401(k)), and unable to find work because of my age (62 at the time), I was forced to take Social Security early, thereby depriving me of approximately $300 a month in the benefit I would have received, had I worked until age 66. My income is $5.75 a month above the level to qualify for MedicAid to supplement my MediCare, so I'm currently looking at $99.90 taken out of my check each month for my Part B supplement and in 2014, that will become $247 a month...from the $844 I receive. Maybe at that point, I will be stealing food, too. In the interim, however, I now eat one meal a day. I use my car only when absolutely necessary. I will never be able to buy myself new clothes again. I will never be able to afford to eat out, not even at a fast-food restaurant. I have sold all the good jewelry I had months ago. As sad as that may sound, I am grateful...there are millions of people in much worse shape than I'm in, especially those who have children to feed and clothe. My heart goes out to them.
seamus60 | Oct 18, 2012, 07:56 PM EDT
Towngate. He said there was a mixup with his child benefit.
seamus60 | Oct 18, 2012, 07:54 PM EDT
Mc Intosh. I was caught last night, can i send you my address lol. Let he without sin cast the first stone.
Scrivner | Oct 18, 2012, 06:28 PM EDT
Methinks that he needs a new agent or solicitor, the HBO gig should've provided nicely for a while and been a boost to his career.
Towngate | Oct 18, 2012, 06:27 PM EDT
This chancer pushed his lucky trying to steal the second time.If he can't afford to live on the Irish benefit system - especially the ridiculously high Child benefit - on which it seems he was depending,he needs a sharp lesson in domestic finances. - preferably given in Mountjoy Prison.
seanomelb | Oct 18, 2012, 05:51 PM EDT
krisdaly take your lord and shove it you unchristian hypocrite. I would steal food if I were desperate and my children were hungry. He was looking after his flock like a good shepherd, that's more than I can say for your non-existent lord.
malpaso2001 | Oct 18, 2012, 04:15 PM EDT
krisdaly...ur an idiot.The 11th commandement states THOU SHALT NOT POST DOBY MESSAGES ON IC.""I SHALL NOT WANT.."THATS THE PROBLEM FOOL, THE MAN did WANT AND UR LORD WAS NOWHERE TO BE SEEN.
lksdrunner | Oct 18, 2012, 04:13 PM EDT
@krisdaly, self-preservation and the need to preserve his family override any so-called god given order. mad respect to this man.
krisdaly | Oct 18, 2012, 03:25 PM EDT
THERE IS NO EXCUSE FOR STEALING. "THOU SHALT NOT STEAL"!! THE LORD IS MY SHEPHERD, I SHALL NOT WANT....
branmakmorn67 | Oct 18, 2012, 01:58 PM EDT
"Why is it always the innocents who suffer most, when you high lords play your game of thrones?"
McIntoshDescent | Oct 18, 2012, 01:46 PM EDT
I feel horrible for this man's plight. I wish there was a way people would be able to send him money.
hybernia | Oct 18, 2012, 01:39 PM EDT
Sad reflection on the Ireland of today.
Searlit | Oct 18, 2012, 11:44 AM EDT
Sounds like Les Miserables. This is what happens when the wealth becomes too concentrated. Money is supposed to flow. Right now it's stuck up in the 1%.
adrienrain | Oct 18, 2012, 10:41 AM EDT
It seems to be a common human error that when people have good fortune, they often can't imagine that hard times might come again. But of course - anyone would steal to feed their kids. And Portia is certainly right. Jail is where the big crooks put those driven to crime by desperation .........
Portia777 | Oct 18, 2012, 10:31 AM EDT
typical... and the banksters stole billions and not one of them did a day in jail or an hour community service
Waitingis1 | Oct 18, 2012, 09:55 AM EDT
That is so crazy! Is this really true?
butlerreport | Oct 18, 2012, 08:58 AM EDT
If he contacts me I will ensure he has money to feed his family: info@1child.net