Lord Mayor of Dublin opens workshop for the homeless

THE Lord Mayor of Dublin was in Dublin 8 last week to open a new workshop building for the homeless staff at one of the city’s oldest working charities.

Cllr Brendan Carr was on Island Street where he was visiting The Mendicity Institution that was first founded in 1818.

The charter has a long-standing tradition of empowering Dublin’s homeless to access employment. The Workshop Programme provides a means for rough sleepers to address problems such as isolation, unemployment, poor health, addiction and lack of accommodation. 

The Lord Mayor, whose predecessors for much of the nineteenth century were ex-officio Presidents of The Mendicity Institution said: “I am impressed by how beneficial the provision of a safe and supportive workplace is for the health and wellbeing of rough sleepers.

“I am also impressed  by how the programme readies and prepares them to engage with and benefit from the services of statutory agencies and NGOs working with this particularly vulnerable group.”

Chairman Patrick Bewley said the aim of the workshop, in line with their 200-years-old work and employment oriented tradition, is to provide an opportunity for people “who are long-term homeless, with no entitlements and no income, to become reintegrated”.

Mendicity Workshop Manager Simone Sav explained that on average, workshop staff have been rough sleeping for over five years.

“We are encouraged by the many positive outcomes of this innovative programme, which also encompasses targeted English language learning,” she said.

The new workshop, which was built in a day by a group of volunteers from the ‘Heart to Hand’ Foundation, enables Mendicity to employ 20 staff.

The products they manufacture include colourful, hand carved window boxes and handmade greeting cards.