The country’s only night cafe for homeless people accommodated 812 different people in its first two months alone — illustrating the scale of the homeless crisis.
The night cafe, operated by Merchant’s Quay Ireland at its centre in Dublin, received 3,018 separate referrals between January 21 and March 23, the majority of whom were sent by the Central Placement Service via its freephone number.
The cafe allows up to 50 people to sleep on floors on crash mats, with up to 18 people in a room, and clients are only referred to the service after other beds in the system are allocated and all other openings exhausted.
Many clients told the Irish Examiner the night cafe — which has funding until the end of the year — was preferable to other options given the services available on site and the skills mix of staff.
Already the night cafe — visited privately by Taoiseach Enda Kenny last month — has had to bring forward its opening hours, with statistics for the first 22 nights of March showing that it was full for allocations each night by 11.45pm.
Manager Brenda Kane said it was already aware of 37 ‘top presenters’, people who have stayed in the facility more than half the nights it has been open.
The 812 people who have used the service since January 21 include a number of people who have since been excluded for infractions that range from drug or alcohol use in the toilets to serious violence or verbal abuse towards other clients or staff.
Some of those excluded from the night service are still able to attend day services at Merchant’s Quay Ireland. “If someone calls to the door, they will try and meet their basic needs under the terms of their exclusion,” said Ms Kane.
“We will help where possible. We know if they don’t have this provision, the only other option is rough sleeping, and that weighs heavy on the person and on the staff.”
Source: Noel Baker, Irish Examiner, 13/04/15
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