Families and children were among more than 500 people facing a challenging Christmas who made their way to the RDS today for a seasonal dinner.
In a tradition that dates back 101 years, the Knights of St Columbanus hosted the event, with the first arrivals coming through the doors at 11am.
As well as a hot three-course meal, there were toys for the children, entertainment and live music to bring some warmth and cheer.
Everyone sat down to a dinner of cream of vegetable soup, stuffed turkey with glazed ham and all the trimmings, seasonal vegetables, Christmas pudding and home-made vanilla custard.
The charity also prepared more than 5,000 takeaway meals for delivery around the wider Dublin area.
The event, which used to take place in the Mansion House, moved to the RDS in 1994. Planning meetings start in September, and the assigning of duties to the volunteers happens at the beginning of December.
Patsy McGuirk, who is in charge of the kitchen, comes from a restaurant background, having run the Bon Appetit in Malahide for years.
“We get the turkey and ham prepared for us by a company in Monaghan, and our job on the day is to make sure it’s heated up to the proper temperature, and we have two teams of six servers bringing it out to the tables,” he said.
Credit to : Irish Independent