Merchants Quay cafe serves food and floor space to homeless

A night cafe for the homeless, which opened in Dublin last year and increased its capacity by 40 per cent in January, is turning people, including families with children, away every night.

The Merchants Quay cafe opens between 11pm and 8am seven nights a week. It serves food and tea and coffee, as well as roll-out mattresses and floor space to rough-sleepers who can’t get – or don’t want – a hostel bed.

It also offers services – welfare advice, addiction and mental health services, medical care and housing help – to a section of people who might not otherwise get such help.

Opened as part of the response to the rough-sleeping crisis after the death of Jonathan Corrie, outside Leinster House in the winter of 2014, it originally accommodated 50 people a night. It can now take 70, and is full every night.

People are referred by Dublin City Council’s freephone line for the homeless, or by rough-sleeper outreach teams, though some arrive without a referral in the hope of getting a bed.

On Monday night, as a record 168 people slept on Dublin's streets – the upstairs room in Merchants Quay Ireland (MQI) was full by 11.30pm. Some 20 people slept there.

"People are queuing from about 10.30pm," says Mark Kennedy, head of day services with the charity.

“Most just want to sleep – they’ve had a long day on the streets – so the place is quiet by 2am.”

Mattresses on floor

A large room downstairs accommodates 50 mattresses. These are being rolled out, with people taking off outer-clothes and lying down, as others sit at tables eating and chatting. Others go outside to smoke.

At about 12.30am a couple arrive, but have to be turned away.

“It happens sometimes,” says Mr Kennedy, “that families with children arrive. Recently a mother arrived with three young children. We bring them in to get them off the streets, but this is an unsuitable place for children.

“We have to contact Tusla when kids are involved.”

Among those there on Monday is “Rob” (26) from Dublin 1, who had been released from Cloverhill prison on Friday. “There were no buses because of the strike. They gave me €5. I told them they couldn’t feck me out with €5.

“I called Fr Peter McVerry. He sent a taxi for me and I stayed with him for the weekend, and came here tonight.”

Safe feeling

Some are under the influence of drugs, or alcohol, though most did not appear to be.

All praise the staff, saying they felt “safe” in the cafe as staff “watch over” the room while they sleep. At 6.45am they are woken, offered a breakfast of cereal, toast, tea and coffee, a shower and a change of clothes.

The accommodation is “not ideal”, says Mr Kennedy, but it means 70 fewer people are sleeping rough.

“The difficult thing is that these are almost all single adults, which means the likelihood of them being housed anytime soon is very slim.”

Last year, 1,972 individuals used the cafe.