IT’S EX-GARDA ALAN’S 45TH CHRISTMAS VOLUNTEERING WITH THE HOMELESS
IT WAS 1972 when Alan Bailey first volunteered at the Capuchin Day Centre for Homeless People in Dublin and 45 years later he runs the facility, which last Friday provided 2,600 hampers to homeless people to give them a taste of Christmas wherever they may be, writes David Looby.
Alan (66) got involved while working as a garda in Bridewell Garda Station.
‘I moved to Dublin from New Ross and along with some other guards decided to help out at the day centre. It was 1972 and there was only a prefab in the monastery yard on Church Street, which was open all day to men only. Br Keane, who runs the centre with me to the present day, was there. He’s only 83 next month.’
Homeless people were served tea and sandwiches. ‘ They were put out on the side of the road at 8 a.m. from hostels in all kinds of weather and had no place to go until the night. I would regularly end up arresting them in my role as a garda.’
The centre was unique in Dublin at the time and still is as it caters for not only homeless people, but people with severe mental health problems and lonely city dwellers.
It was only when a big heroin epidemic gripped Dublin City in the late 1980s and 1990s that women and children started attending the centre. ‘So we evolved into a full-time family inclusive homeless day centre.’
The centre is state-of-the-art and has a canteen which can set 120 people, a children’s dining area, two medical rooms, bathrooms and shower facilities.
‘It’s gone to such an extreme that last Monday were were giving out nappies and baby food. We had 300 people from all over the country queuing outside. Our numbers have skyrocketed; tripled due to the the cost of living in Dublin.’
It is not unusual to see a working father attend the centre with his wife and children looking for food. ‘ These are people who have a house or an apartment, but can’t afford to put food on the table for their family. Some have been evicted and one family was sleeping on a bench in Mountjoy Square. We have Wexford people coming through our doors and people from across every county, who got caught in the Dublin boom trap.’
The centre is open from 7 a.m. to accommodate rough sleepers. Anyone high or drunk is not allowed in, but they are given food to take away. ‘We had to move our opening hours from 9 a.m. to 7 a.m. as more and more people were sleeping rough. They come in and get something to eat. The majority put their head down for a sleep since often they haven’t slept since the previous day. It’s pitiful to see such big, strong men reduced to this as their only bit of comfort for an hour or two.
‘ The most heart rending sight is families who have been couch surfing or going from hostel to B&B to hostel. We give toys to the mothers to give to their little ones for Christmas presents from them. The children are asking if Santa Claus will know where to find them at their hotel on Christmas night.’
Alan leads a team of 27, with 100 volunteers offering their time and energy towards the cause.
‘Full time staff work mainly inside a counter preparing the food. The volunteers are on the floor working with the clients. We link in with other organisations and as we are all serving the same client base.’
Alan said it is easy to see how addicts can easily slip back into addiction. ‘When you have a heroin addict on the dry surrounded by other heroin addicts shooting up what chance do they have.
If I drink to forget myself and where my life has taken me it’s difficult to quit.’
Alan said, like the volunteers he works with, he gets a lot more out of his job than he puts in during his 44-hour week.
On occasions his job as a sergeant heading up murder and missing person investigations crossed paths with his work at the centre.
‘Around 20 years ago a pregnant woman named Philomena Gillane’s body was found in the boot of a car in Athlone and two of our clients came in and told me they had been reading about it. A man (her husband Patrick) had approached them to kill the woman but they refused to. The two men were hardshaws and one of them, Christy Bolger from Wexford, felt so upset about what he knew that he told me the story and Gillane was subsequently convicted of solicting someone to kill his wife – so our open doors led to that conviction. It’s because of the way we treat people.’
Everyone who Alan welcomes into the day shelter is treated with respect. No questions are asked about where they came from or their circusmtances. ‘We tell them whatever they need in terms of food or medical help we will provide. If they want to share with us we will listen all day and if they need to use our service we tell them that they are free to do so. We do liaise with gardaí, when necessary, and we have a very firm policy on drug dealing and child protection, which is paramount. Nutrition is a very big thing for us and all our menus are geared towards nutrition.’
It costs €3.6m a year to run the centre. Government funding only amounts to one eight of this with the remaining €3.15m coming from public donations.
‘We provide 850 hot meals a day, including a minimum of 250 breakfasts between 7 a.m. and 11.30 a.m. We offer a four course lunch to between 550 and 600 people daily. On one day here we had 713 people for lunch, the population of a big Wexford village.’
Alan says the only reason the centre has been able to remain open is due to the generosity of Irish people.
‘Because of people’s goodness during 2016 we had enough resources to provide 398,000 units of service and we did not have to cut services or turn anyone away who needed help. We can’t thank people enough.’
The centre was open on Chirstmas Eve, closing on Christmas Day when the Knights of Columbanus provide Christmas dinners for hundreds of homeless people.
Alan worked throughout Christmas, as he does every year. He is married to Thelma Ryan from New Ross and said she is his rock.
Alan said: ‘It saddens me to think that not alone is the problem (of homelessness) still there, but it has gotten worse. It’s a particular endictment of the governemnt to see the number of children caught up in this. I had a girl approach me last night with her 10-year-old daughter beside her.
‘She recalled when she met me 20 years ago when she was here at the centre at Christmas. We had children here over the years but I have never seen it so busy as it is now.’
Alan, who has three sisters living in County Wexford, Isobel Tubritt, Grace O’Mahoney and Donna Kehoe, living in Fethard-on-Sea and Enniscorthy, returns to County Wexford occasionally, but his busy work life at the Capuchin Day Centre means he spends most of his free time in Dublin with his family.
He has no plans to retire as he loves helping people. ‘We are giving people back their dignity; that is the whole idea. We have a laugh too. One Dublin lad approached me once and said “If you are doing penance for your sins as a policeman there is not enough penance in the world.’
A MOTHER WITH A CHILD RECALLED MEETING ME HERE WITH HER FATHER 20 YEARS AGO