Homeless Dubliners have a new opportunity to get off the streets under a scheme that trains them as tour guides.  The social enterprise My Streets Ireland aims to give some of the Irish capital's homeless new skills and an income for showing visitors the city.

Trainees choose a theme for their tour and get help with its research and presentation. The guides receive half of the ticket sales and the remainder is ploughed back into running the project.

"I never dreamed this would happen," says Eddie Dooner, 27, who was living in a tent in Dublin's Phoenix Park, but now has his own flat. " I want to change people's views. Just because you're homeless doesn't mean you're a bad person.

Similar schemes are running in other European capitals, including Berlin, Vienna and Prague.