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I thought it was digusting.. the language out of their mouth.. And the girl telling her mother she was going to bomb her apartment.. I was in shock....

And that's where my €160 a year goes. thanks Rte

A mindnumbing hour spent glorifying a group of scangers

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"I guess that's just the circle of life: our parents faked their way through it,you fake your way through it and hopefully you don't raise a serial killer"

Its won awards, hasn't it? That is why I flicked it on, but I couldn't watch it.

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wasn't that her grandmother she was saying that to. and the cheek she gave her grandmother when she was talking about her own mother! the girl was asking her questions and when the granny started talking it was "eh, nanny your borin me, jesus!"

cheeky little bitch needs her arse broken for her

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I watched it and wish I'd watched something else instead. Couldnt see the point of the whole documentary really. The girls were complete scangers. I couldnt even understand what they were saying, I had to read the subtitles ...... and I'm from Dublin

I thought it was absolutely the worst 60 mins of television that I have witnessed in a long long time.

I thought it was awful tv but that was because I felt like the makers were poking fun at them. Yeah they're anti social, yeah their language was dire, the lack of respect was sickening. The main character has had a shocking life, imagine having a man on the bus say "I could be your Da", the damage that must do to a child. My mam works with addicts and more often then not their children become very angry preteens/teens because they are unloved, neglected and feel like they're not worth loving because their parent won't choose them over drugs.

The behaviour is not right and I am not excusing it but there should be supports in place for the children of addicts and users of this extreme. She's barely educated, barely literate and yet she's talking about taking over guardianship of her younger sister? That just can't be right. The pyjamas are just a symptom of a bigger problem here and I think it's very sad that most people can't see beyond them too the bigger picture.

Am I losing my marbles or was this on before? I am near positive I saw this some years back.

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I'll never be a good example, so I might as well be a fabulous warning

well said - these are the children / grandchildren of the heroin addicts of the 80s. I found it hard to understand them but think she said 6 of her mothers sisters were /are addicts, one in prison, some 'barely hanging on'. And she rang the granny/grandaunt at age 6 asking her to take her and her 6 month old baby sister in when the mother overdosed or was locked up (forget details!) so they wouldn't be put in care. Think I'd be a skanger too with that to cope with.

I thought it was a repeat too.

Both of you have said what I wanted to say. I live in the South Inner city and see girls like this on a daily basis. These poor kids have been dragged up and passed from pillar to post all their lives, they are the children of the first generation heroin addicts of the late 1980's, early 1990's. In my area it seems like they don't seem to care because nobody seems to care about them.

My friends Mam took her niece in when she was a baby because her Mam was too strung out to care for her, she raised her like one of her own and she turned out to be a lovely young women. She was one of the lucky ones a lot of her friends are like the girls in the program. As someone else said I would'nt worry about the pyjama wearing its just a small part of their bigger problems.

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DD1 is 10
DS is 4
DD2 is 1

"Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind." - Dr Seuss

I found it fascinating in a horrifying way - couldn't switch over. It really was a no-hope situation for some of girls - and they just seemed to be wallowing in it.
I found some parts so sad - like the little toddler toys on the narrow, dingy balcony. And when the family were laughing when the little girl, Danica, was saying that her mother was awful.


PS, on a trivial note - was I the only one who thought the game the little boys were playing on passers-by with the cardboard box looked like good fun!?? That's one my kids play on their dad in the kitchen or living room any time we have a big empty nappy box. Never thought about scaring the wits out of pedestrians with it though!

Wingnut I thought the game was hilarious! Dh is determined to try it out

hate to say it but i found those girls to be complete skanks!

Didn't see but heard one of the girls on Joe Duffy today. It was filmed a few years back. One girl is doing a fas course to be a receptionist the other is doing childcare.

I saw half of this last night & it made me angry. Angry at the programme makers who exploited those girls, encouraging them to be as outrageous as possible in order to allow the audience to sneer at them. And angry at the girls themselves that they can't see their own worth, or their potential.

But it's nothing to the anger I feel at some of the posts here. I consider myself to be a "woman of the world" and I have dealt with people from every walk of life, but I cannot conceive of living that life or what kind of person I would be if I'd had such a shocking upbringing. I'd probably be a skank who would never amount to anything too. What special gifts do those of you who have been so critical and smug have, that you can be so confident that you would have turned out much better than those girls had you had the same lives?

Puffen, your post is excellent.

i'm not being smart, but how do you know people on here haven't? You can't assume that people who were disgusted by the carry on of the girls must have had a better childhood, it is possible to come through a hellish childhood and be dragged up but still turn out well because you choose to be better than that.

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Exactly and I agree with your points. Which is why the comments writing those girls off are unfair. They were still children, or as good as, when that was made. Certainly as they were portrayed last night, they came across as not knowing they could choose to be better. There is a whole cycle at play there, and breaking it is hard. But as someone else has posted, they're both working towards qualifications now. So maybe something is changing in the cycle but writing people off young doesn't help.

i see what you're saying and you're right, but the thing is, criticising their behaviour implies that you think they have a choice and they ought to start choosing to behave better...
Yes it might be harsh, but i think it's better than the "sure god help them, that's what they're born into, how could they be any different" sort of attitude because this is in fact writing them off. it's very nice and sympathetic, but it doesn't show much faith in their ability to make something of themselves.

I come at it from that angle having worked with addicts and children of addicts, particularly teens. I'm not impressed by how they came across but it's also definitely not a culture shock to me. In fact i remember once being taken back when i was told by a girl i worked with not unlike these girls "I thought you were a bit of a bitch cause you give out to me but at least you respect me enough to be straight with me. there's nothing worse than people feeling sorry for you, hows that meant to make you feel?"

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I don't feel sorry for them, I feel angry for them. I think it is an absolute disgrace that despite the money that was in this country projects for addicts and their families were grossly underfunded.
The behaviour last night is quite obviously a product of that young girl feeling completely unloved and unwanted. There should be a system in place where these children are not passed from billy to jack as a burden, that they are supported, loved and cared for, they are educated and this cycle of destruction is stopped.

I am delighted to hear the girls are studying and doing well and long may it last but they are only the tip of the iceberg. I am annoyed at the makers of the show but if the girls saw themselves and realised how others perceived them and made changes to their lives for the better as a result of it then that's a good thing. We just need to remember that that's only 2 of them and there are loads loads more like them.

I think everyone has choices in life but I think when you're brought up surrounded by the things they are it can be very difficult to see your choices let alone make good ones add to that the fact they have no parental guidance to help them make good choices.

Totally agree, I didn't see it but my dad watched it and told me he was horrified. I used to job coach a girl in the Irish Life building many moons ago and would see a lot of addicts around that area with babies in prams and the parents, kids themselves off their faces. How could anyone grow up normal or respectful etc with that as your role model. A lot don't, they grow up hard and looking after themselves because they've had too. Sad and disgraceful.

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