Staff at the centre said it was the “longest” queue they had seen in many years, with many in the line saying the loss of once-off and double payments of core social welfare rates in October’s budget had pushed them further into poverty this Christmas.
By 6am, the line of mothers, children, elderly and disabled people stretched from the centre’s entrance on Bow Street, Smithfield, round the corner on to Nicholas Avenue, and around again on to Church Street.
There were women with infants in prams, holding hands of young children with woollen bobble hats and schoolbags. Others carried small babies wrapped in blankets, while elderly men and women sat in wheelchairs or rested on walking frames.
A young mother did not want to give her name, saying she was “a bit anxious” as it was her first time queuing for the annual distribution of tickets, redeemable next Friday morning for a supermarket voucher.
“I never thought I’d see myself in a queue like this. It’s poverty and this is the way it’s going. The working people are getting poorer.
“A lot of people are obviously down here because there’s no help from the social welfare this year and are finding it really difficult,” she said, referencing the removal of once-off and some double payments in Budget 2026.
“The expenses for our children. Food alone is extortionate and people can’t afford it. People don’t want to be seen down here. It is embarrassing,” she said.
Asked about increasing cost of living, she said: “The Dublin City Council rents have gone up. My rent is €100 a week for a two-bed and I have a child with additional needs. Electricity – I have to top [a prepay meter] up every week. Once your rent is paid, and your gas and electricity, you barely have enough for shopping.”
It was also first time for Des (46) at the day centre’s annual Christmas distribution. “I got down here last year [when the centre ran out of tickets] and there were killings ... So I just walked away.
“I am in a hostel the last six months. It is very hard. I have to pay maintenance, pay bills. So this is going to help me with a few bits over Christmas. It is very sad.
“I come down on Wednesday to get the [weekly food parcel] and bring it up for the kids – bread, beans, butter, a few bits. Every little bit helps at Christmas.”
He explained he had been released from a short prison sentence earlier this year and had nowhere to stay. “I had to go into homeless accommodation. This will help get food to put on the table. Everything’s gone up, even the Lidls – 6 cent on this, 10 cent on that. And the bags are getting smaller so you have to buy more.”
At 6.15am volunteers came out to the queue with trays of hot soup, in advance of distribution beginning at 7am.
Br Kevin Kiernan said the queue was “definitely bigger than last year ... There is so much pressure on people and even more so if you don’t have the means to buy some toys.”
The centre had printed an additional 500 tickets this year after distressing scenes last year when tickets initially ran out.
Noting it was the first Christmas since the death of the centre’s founder, Br Kevin Crowley, he said it was “poignant” and “not the same” without him.
“This time of the year especially you’d come down to the friary at 5.30am and Br Kevin would be coming in, having just put on the porridge and the soup ... He was a great inspiration. Always his heart was for the poor.”
By 7.30am, even as the queue had been moving for half an hour, the line had grown further, stretching past the friary on Church Street almost around on to May Lane.
Emerging from the queue, Dave (69) was on a walking frame and said his ticket was “like gold dust”.
“I am an old-age pensioner. People might say I’m begging but I have worked all my life. I am Irish. I am not saying I am entitled to it, but it is there and I avail of it.”
He worked as a carpenter with Dublin Corporation, he said, and he visited the day centre for meals during the week. “I do have a family who look after me but just to come down here for a chat ... It’s community.”
Asked about his health, he said: “You’d want about an hour. I am post cancer, bars in my legs, arthritis.”
Jacky, a mother on disability allowance, said she was “finding it very hard” with bills and feared she would not be able to give children “a few bob” at Christmas.
“I have a young daughter and she’s started college. It’s my sister paying her accommodation, and my mother and my aunt because I don’t have money to help.
“I just came for my ticket for the voucher ... so I will be able to give some money to my kids and I’ll use the voucher then for my shopping.
“It is very hard. It is kind of going back to years ago. It’s kind of years ago this kind of struggle happened.”
The centre gets 14 per cent of its costs from Government, relying on donations to meet the majority of its costs. Having distributed the tickets, the centre opens at 12.30pm for lunch. Year-round it provides 1,000 hot meals a day, six days a week, as well as weekly food parcels and infant and baby supplies.