"If it wasn't for her we'd be in an awful state. We'd be having to walk around scruffy, smelly and in bits."
To Mr Eddie Grehan (37), Ms Alice Leahy is a lifeline to a bit of basic dignity - to a wash, a shave and the restoration of a measure of self-esteem. She and her colleagues dispense these daily from the premises of Trust. It is open every day from 7.30 a.m. until lunchtime.
Working in the basement of the Iveagh Hostel in the Liberties area of Dublin, Ms Leahy provides the Trust service to the homeless of Dublin, among whose number yesterday morning was Eddie.
While he shaved in the Trust bathroom, the fair-haired Dubliner described how he had been homeless since June.
"I was in a flat in Grosvenor Road in Rathmines. Then I was arrested, for women-related issues, and I got 28 days in Mountjoy. I had nowhere to go when I got out. I did try to get into hostels but they were all full, so I sleep in a park in Ranelagh." He said Trust was important not only as a service, but as a place to go in the mornings. He wished, however, that it remained open all day, saying that come 4 p.m. "it gets dark and there's nowhere else to go. There's nowhere to go and nothing to do." Also there yesterday was Charlie (74) from Co Roscommon. Having just had a shower, he was in sprightly form, saying he had been working on building sites in England through the early 1950s.
"I came back here in 1953 because there was plenty of work here," he said. "I lived in paid digs in the North Circular Road then, but I'm living in the Iveagh Hostel now since 1984. I wasn't getting on too well in the digs, what with the drink. A priest from Roscommon got me into the hostel."
He said he came into Trust every morning after his breakfast for a wash and a chat, before going to Mass.
As well as a shower, shave and hair-wash, Trust's clients may get basic medical attention from Ms Leahy's colleague, Ms Ger McCaulife. "We treat a lot of skin problems," she said, indicating about 30 bottles of calamine lotion. The charity does not offer food - other than tea and biscuits - but gives cans of a high-calorie nutrition drink to those who seem to be neglecting their diet.
They also have a store of men's and women's clothes - socks, fresh underwear. Trust buys clean underwear, though the rest of the clothes are donated. Last month Trust saw 70 clients, including 31 new people and 30 regulars. Some 270 showers were taken (a shower takes in a full check-over by Ms McCaulife or Ms Leahy), 191 received a new set of clothes.
Trust is part-funded by the State, though the largest proportion of its income is from voluntary donations.