A protest began today at 6.15pm at Dublin City Hall in response to new bylaws proposed by Dublin City Council (DCC).
The bylaws, if implemented, would prohibit the operation of unregistered on-street homeless food services such as soup kitchens.
Posting on Instagram from the protest, Trinity College Dublin Students’ Union (TCDSU) President Jenny Maguire highlighted the cause and shared footage of chants taking place outside of Dublin City Hall.
Speaking with Trinity News Maguire said that the union had joined the protest “to demand a city which works for its people”.
Commenting on the proposed bylaws, Maguire stated: “It is done not to support or care for those in need, but to hide them.”
The proposal follows a report on the city’s on-street food services prepared for DCC in 2021. The report, authored by an independent consultant, highlights a number of risks and benefits associated with the operation of such services.
The report describes on-street food supports as “disruptive to the functioning of businesses, and the city centre as a space”. A variety of concerns surrounding the visual impact of the supports are also mentioned with the report saying that they “deter customers from going into [business] premises”.
Also highlighted was the benefit people received from a free hot meal as well as the positivity of the social interaction which such spaces facilitate.
A second report was then released by the Taoiseach’s Taskforce for Dublin which called for bylaws to regulate these charitable services. Groups have concerns that the report’s language of regulation will actually result in a ban and phasing out of these supports. This report, released last October, will now see Dublin City Councillors vote on the recommendation in the coming months.
The proposal has been criticised by a variety of groups providing services who say that banning the supports will have terrible consequences. Speaking to the Irish Independent, Glenda Harrington, of Friends Helping Friends said: “If we’re gone, who is going to help them? Absolutely nobody, and they’re going to die.”
Harrington continued her discussion saying that her organisation “are going to fight, and we’re not going to let it happen – we’re not going anywhere.”
The proposal follows new data from the Dublin Regional Homeless Executive which shows that last November there were 10,925 people living in emergency accommodation in Dublin. These figures do not include those sleeping rough or couch surfing.
The protest was organised by on-street food support group Dublin Food Not Bombs who took to instagram calling for protest. The group also highlighted the consequences of additional regulation saying: “We are the poor, the unhoused, the struggling and the hungry fighting for each other one meal at a time.”
The post also responded to DCC’s report’s suggestion that such services strip people of their dignity saying “what is a greater attack on dignity than going hungry”.
The group will meet today from 6.15pm at Dublin City Hall where DCC will be discussing the proposals.
This article was updated at 23:08 on January 6 in order to include comments from TDSCU President Jenny Maguire.
