The Dublin collective Food Not Bombs is calling for a protest outside of Dublin City Hall this evening, January 6, at 6:15pm. It will oppose the recently announced “soup kitchen” bylaws.

The bylaws, which will be drafted by Dublin City Council this month, aim to prohibit “well-meaning” volunteer groups providing on-street food and personal services to Dublin’s homeless population queuing on the city’s streets.

The introduction of these bylaws was a recommendation of the Taoiseach’s Taskforce for Dublin published last October. It noted that the model of on-street delivery in “high-profile locations risks the privacy, dignity and the safety of people using the service, attracts anti-social behaviour and drug dealing, and degrades the public realm.”

However, an independent report commissioned three years ago by the council had already found a need to take “immediate action to address risks of on-street services.”

The decision to draft the bylaws have been met with widespread criticism, with Chris O’Reilly of the Liberty Soup Run in the city centre telling The Journal that he was “not going to stop for nobody, because these people depend on us.”

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Ireland’s Workers’ Party also released a statement following the announcement, calling it a “step in the wrong direction, and an evaluation of the causes of these issues is required instead.”

Garrett Greene, Workers’ Party representative for Cabra-Glasnevin commented: “Ultimately, it is the state itself that should ensure that people can afford food and a home, but in light of this negligence, charities have been left to take up this role, the most visible example being soup kitchen runs.”

Calling for the protest on Instagram, Food Not Bombs called the DCC bylaws a “shameful attempt to ban soup runs from Dublin."

The news comes as Dublin Simon Community recently revealed an all-time high in Ireland’s homelessness figures, with 15,199 people in emergency accommodation nationally, including 10,925 in Dublin alone, marking a 10% year-on-year increase in the capital. Among those figures are 1,524 families, 3,475 children, and 4,789 single adults.

Food Not Bombs’ protest will take place this evening, January 6, at 6:15pm outside of Dublin City Hall.