Sir, – I am writing to highlight the ongoing vital work being done in Dublin city to support its most vulnerable citizens.
The Capuchin Day Centre has been supplying food and services to the homeless community in Dublin since 1969.
There is an inextricable link between homelessness, food inequality and mental health problems.
Add to that the soaring costs of living, the housing crisis and the challenges many face in securing employment, and there is a perfect storm that results in hundreds of people daily accessing the Capuchin Day Centre in Smithfield and other such services for food, often for themselves and their families, because they have no other option.
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The numbers and diversity of people in need of this service are ever increasing.
It is a stark reminder of the collective failures of our society to see people queue in the freezing cold in the early morning on the cobbles of Bow Street for the food parcels that the centre provides on Wednesday mornings, 3,000 of which they expect to supply at Christmas time.
The staff and volunteers work tirelessly to provide this essential service which heavily relies on public donations.
Sadly, there is no sign of this tide of inequality receding. – Yours, etc,
ALAN MONNELLY,
Whitehall,
Dublin 9.
