An Irish backpacker was rescued by Australian emergency services on Tuesday after he was discovered taking a “kip” on the roof of a local business in Darwin.
The “gee-eyed” man was found by the Northern Territory Police, Fire and Emergency services after they received a call that a person was fast asleep on the ledge of a building. ‘Gee-eyed’ is an expression used to describe a person who is extremely drunk.
Senior Sergeant Garry Smith posted on the services' Facebook page that all personnel at the police, fire and emergency services were highly trained in all aspects of emergency management but that each shift "holds the unknown whether it is mundane or critical incident response".
“Every now and again we respond to community calls for assistance that do not always make total sense,” he wrote, including “a backpacker stuck up on a roof after the ‘Gee-Eyed’ male decided this was a good place for a ‘kip’”.
Emergency services used a long ladder to help the man down from the roof on Tuesday morning. The man later said he had no recollection of how he got onto the roof in the first place.
Acting Sgt Jacqueline Lynden said after the rescue that the backpacker had “promised to walk home and not get into any more vulnerable situations.”
The man was issued with an infringement notice for his choice of sleeping arrangements, added the Facebook statement.
It’s got to give you a giggle but we’ve also got to be serious, we’re talking about a very intoxicated person who has no recollection of climbing up to a very high place and falling asleep, he could have fallen and injured himself or a pedestrian,” Sgt Smith told the AAP.
“You’ve got to roll your eyes, but also what do you do, it’s just part of Darwin.”
The Irish Council for Prisoners Overseas (ICPO) reported in 2014 that the number of Irish people convicted of crimes and spending time in prison in Australia was rising, with high alcohol intake often a feature of offences committed by emigrants.
The ICPO supports Irish prisoners overseas with issues like repatriation, deportation, access to post-release support and accommodation, as well as offering some financial assistance and support for families in Ireland.
More recently, increasing numbers of Irish citizens on temporary visas in Australia could face arrest for staying on illegally after their visas expire.
A total of 401 Irish citizens were “returned or removed” from Australia for violating the conditions of their visa in the 12 months to June 2015, a 37 per cent rise in the past two years.
Figures from the Australian Department of Immigration show that between July 2014 and June 2015, 92 Irish citizens were “removed” after being arrested and held at immigration detention centres.
