The Irish Catholic Autumn Legacy Supplement 2024
It all started with two Franciscan friars and a cup of tea in 1969. Ireland’s most beloved charity has spoken the language of the human heart ever since — here for the homeless and hungry for more than five decades, thanks to the caring donations of everyday people. This is the story of Merchants Quay Ireland (MQI).
It all started in 1969. Brother Salvador Kenney, the tailor who made the friary habits, and sacristan Brother Sebastian Tighe began serving tea and sandwiches to homeless men who took refuge in the church during the day.
A legacy of good
Soon, the Brothers moved the Tea Room to a converted garage at the back of the friary on Cook Street, but it still wasn’t enough to keep up with the numbers coming through the door. It was the grace and good of the Irish people that supported this work, and helped to meet demand. ‘It was a legacy in the late 1970s that started Merchants Quay’s tradition of Sunday roast dinners for homeless people,’ says CEO Eddie Mullins.
‘There was a woman, her family owned a chicken processing company. She left a legacy of 100 chickens each week as part of a bequest in her Will. So to this day we serve a roast dinner on Sunday. The good she left behind really cascaded out and still continues today.’
Drugs invade Dublin
By the early 1980s the need for help became more diverse, as the European drugs explosion hit Ireland. There was already an informal support network around the friary, a lot of drug users who were HIV positive were coming in for help because they were excluded from treatment.
So, in 1989 the friars gave Father Sean Cassin two rooms at the front of the friary to set up as a counselling and drop-in centre. Demand was instant.
Merchants Quay
In 1991 the Merchants Quay Project started by Fr Cassin was granted charitable status, offering care and treatment to drug users and their families – and opening the country’s first needle exchange. Prior to this point all help had been voluntary and there was no state funding. But it was time to formalise the response.
‘This was the first time that people who suffered with an addiction had a safe place to turn to.’ Eddie says. ‘We had to meet the people of Dublin with grace and dignity. Only then could we really begin to help.’
An 800-year tradition
Said Brother Phili. “In a sense we’ve been doing this for 800 years – no one would ever be turned away.” But the time had come for the friars to step away from the coalface and into a pastoral care level. “I’d see the young people waiting outside for breakfast, looking so desperate. The scene had changed. It needed professional people.”
‘Although the Friary and MQI are separate organisations’, explains Br Gabriel, ‘Our lives are intertwined. The connection of hope, hospitality and justice is as strong as ever.’
MQI Today
So, in 2001 the now full-fledged food service and the Merchants Quay Project were merged into one to become Merchants Quay Ireland.
Since then, MQI has grown to meet the needs of people all over Ireland. From residential drug rehabilitation programmes in High Park, Dublin, to St Francis Farm in Co. Carlow, and addiction support services in Cavan and Monaghan, the Midlands, Athlone and the East Coast. In the heart of Dublin, Riverbank Open Access Centre offers dignity and help without judgement; there are nutritious meals, hot showers and fresh clothes, a doctor and dentist and mental health support for people experiencing homelessness or addiction.
It’s thanks to the donations and gifts left in the wills of caring, compassionate people that MQI continue to be here for Ireland’s most vulnerable – to be sure no one is forgotten.
Your legacy, your gift
St Francis Farm detox and rehabilitation centre is where miracles grow, a chance to start life anew, offering a pathway to recovery. It was in the storm of a dark winter’s night, that a mighty beech tree was felled by the winter. It had watched over the farm since it was a sapling. Like the lives that are saved at MQI, the beech tree was recovered. Now, clients on their new path spend time whittling the tree into wooden hearts. Each heart is made especially for people who include a legacy for MQI in their Will.
Your legacy of any amount can help to protect Ireland’s loneliest souls, offering a second chance, a fresh start. Should you decide to leave a gift in your Will, we would like to pass on this gift to you.
To visit or learn more about MQI, or to request your free info pack on how to leave a gift in your Will to Merchants Quay Ireland, you are very welcome to ring Katie Hennessy on 01 524 0139. Or email katie.hennessy@mqi.ie. You can also find MQI online at www.mqi.ie.
“You might not have spoken to anyone all day. Then you come in here and have a chat over dinner, it really changes your mood. It’s instant relief. You relax, you’re not so guarded, you’re calm for the first time all day. You can be yourself at last.”
– Darren offers a warm welcome at Merchant’s Quay Ireland
“Being homeless, I don’t speak to anyone all day. But when I walk through the doors at Riverbank, I’m welcomed. I can have a chat, and a laugh, be myself at last…”
– Jim, Riverbank client
Where there is hatred,
let me sow love,
Where there is injury, pardon
Where there is doubt, faith
Where there is despair, hope
Where there is darkness, light
And where there is sadness, joy
– An Excerpt from the Prayer of St. Francis