People shuffle in, some regulars and known by their first name, others with hats pulled low, gloves tight, their belongings tucked under their arms.<\/p>\n
Some head straight for the canteen-\u00adstyle room, huddling together for warmth, while others linger in front of the mirrors, combing hair or freshening up after a long night outside.<\/p>\n
Questions fly at staff about mental health supports, medical appointments, or a hot meal. In every corner, the pulse of daily life underlines a simple truth: this place is more than a service, it\u2019s a lifeline \u2013 especially in the colder months.<\/p>\n
David Newell, a project worker at Merchants Quay Ireland who has been there for over three years, guides visitors through the centre with an easy familiarity.<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery day is different,\u201d he said, giving me a whistle-stop tour of the centre, which saw 81,878 meals provided in 2024 to clients. This number is on track to be higher in 2025.<\/p>\n
As a project worker, Mr Newell carries out multiple roles in the centre. He might be monitoring the bathroom or shower area, he might be working in crisis contacts, answering queries about housing or social welfare, or working on the needle exchange.<\/p>\n
He stressed the importance of the showers, which are used by dozens of people throughout their opening hours.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn terms of having a warm place to go, to the showers are huge,\u201d Mr Newell said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think people don\u2019t often realise the importance of having a hot shower and what it can do for you. It can just be amazing. Even in the summertime, just to feel fresh, to feel clean, to put on clean socks and underwear, makes you feel better, improves your mental health.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou feel better about yourself in the wintertime. It\u2019s one thing to sit by the radiator, but to get in a real hot shower and just soak in that for a little while, that\u2019s sometimes really the only way to get warm.\u201d<\/p>\n
In 2024, Merchants Quay supported over 14,086 clients through its Riverbank drop-in, providing 4,027 showers.<\/p>\n
Of those supported, 887 were over 55, highlighting the growing presence of older people experiencing homelessness.<\/p>\n
The showers, the hot food, that space to just sit\u2026 it makes a huge difference<\/p>\n
\u201cThe need gets stronger in the winter,\u201d Mr Newell said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s one thing in the summer, you can sit in a park with your friends, have a beer, but when it\u2019s lashing rain and bitterly cold, all you want is warmth. The showers, the hot food, that space to just sit\u2026 it makes a huge difference.\u201d<\/p>\n
The centre is not just a place to eat and wash. Downstairs, a medically supervised injecting facility offers a clean, supervised environment for people who use drugs, reducing health risks associated with intravenous use.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve got seven bays here,\u201d Mr Newell said. \u201cWe monitor for overdoses, provide clean equipment and give advice on safe injecting practices. It\u2019s about keeping people alive and safe.\u201d<\/p>\n
Across the centre, clients can access health services, from nurses and dentists to mental health support, as well as advice on housing and social welfare benefits.<\/p>\n
For Mr Newell, creating trust is at the heart of the work and building relationships with the clients that come through the door.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s for them to come through the door and think to themselves, \u2018Oh this person knows me and we can have a bit of craic together\u2019,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cSometimes people can have the experience of services where they go in and it\u2019s just a case of, what do you need? Which is not a great experience.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think interacting with our clients in all the different roles we play here at the centre gives you a chance to talk to them in very different settings and build up a bit of rapport with them, so we can see what we might want to do for them down the line so that\u2019s something I really like about being a project worker.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The Riverbank Centre at Merchants Quay, Dublin.<\/p>\n
Mr Newell himself is from Denver in the United States and moved over to Ireland to study, saying that his parents helped start a coffee shop for homeless people where he lived, and it is work he loves doing.<\/p>\n
One recent story illustrates the impact of their work.<\/p>\n
A man in his mid-40s had been living in a tent for two years after losing access to his family home.<\/p>\n
His parents had a council house and when they died, he lost access.<\/p>\n
It was only through coming to the Riverbank centre and engaging with staff that he learnt about emergency accommodation and thankfully, he was able to get housed very recently.<\/p>\n
The man was also coughing a lot and had a chest infection for two weeks, but the nurses were able to give him some antibiotics.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe just didn\u2019t know what to do,\u201d Mr Newell said. \u201cWe helped him navigate the housing system, get his documents in order, and now he\u2019s in emergency accommodation.\u201d<\/p>\n
At Riverbank, the atmosphere balances care with structure. During meal times, staff ensure everyone gets fed while maintaining discretion.<\/p>\n
In the showers, clients can enjoy a moment of privacy and dignity.<\/p>\n
In the health promotion rooms, nurses, dentists, and counsellors see people for everything from abscesses to addiction support.<\/p>\n
And in the dual diagnosis team, staff help clients address overlapping mental health and substance use issues.<\/p>\n
You see a lot of generosity between people here<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s no one story for the people who come through here. Some have fallen on hard times and need a leg up and we can do that and they\u2019re off again and on their way\u201d Mr Newell said.<\/p>\n
\u201cOthers have been homeless for years and there are reasons behind that and it doesn\u2019t just go away.\u201d<\/p>\n
And yet, even amid hardship, moments of humanity shine through.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think sometimes people think it\u2019s all gloom and despair \u2013 and there is a lot of that there \u2013 but there\u2019s a lot of happiness too, you see a lot of generosity between people here,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve seen it so often someone has two cigarettes left and they give one to their friend, that\u2019s it, that\u2019s all they have, but they know their friend really wants one too.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou can see some really great examples of humanity here, even in the midst of desperation, which is great because, as much as it can be a hard job, it keeps you coming back.\u201d<\/p>\n
He says his favourite part of his job is the \u201chuman connection\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cI really enjoy getting to know the people. I think when you feel marginalised, you can feel very invisible, you know, especially this time of year, like Christmas, highlights that a lot,\u201d Mr Newell said.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou see people tapping around Henry Street or Grafton Street and there are decorations up everywhere, people are out for drinks with their friends and having fun.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou just have to think about the other side of that when you\u2019re sitting there in the midst of it and nobody looks at you and people can cross the street to go by you and it can be tough.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo for me I just love getting to know people that come in here, have a coffee with them.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne of the guys here is an amazing artist, he carries around his art supplies, so I\u2019ll sit down and talk to him, but yeah, just letting people know we\u2019re here for them in our limited capacity.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"People shuffle in, some regulars and known by their first name, others with hats pulled low, gloves tight,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":168726,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[615,3662,61,60,43,3478],"class_list":["post-168725","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-dublin","tag-housing-crisis","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-news","tag-sarah-burke"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/168725","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=168725"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/168725\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/168726"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=168725"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=168725"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=168725"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}