Cork's Penny Dinners brings back its in-house dining service

Cork Penny Dinners has announced the return of its sit-down service after six years, as it provides up to 500 meals per day.

The homelessness charity, which relocated to the Croí na Laoí Centre on James St last year, announced the reintroduction of the sit-in service at the beginning of this month, and can now provide in-house dining for up to 50 people at one time.

The sit-down service was previously available at the charity’s former location, on Little Hanover St. 

COVID-19

However, a takeaway service was introduced during the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, which remained in place until now.

General manager at Cork Penny Dinners, Sharon Murphy told The Echo that while the charity intends to wind down its takeaway service in lieu of the new sit-down offering, it will continue operating as normal for a number of weeks.

“The sit-down service fell away after Covid, but we had been aiming to bring it back for quite a while as it was an important part of what the charity was established for,” said Ms Murphy.

“The building on James St lends itself a little bit better for a sit-down service, especially for the numbers we do nowadays.

“We’re delighted to be able to provide it again and it’s been going really well.

“People are still adjusting to it. It will take some time for people to get their heads around it, but it’s going great – people are happy to have the opportunity to come in and sit down.

“For many service users it may be one of the few opportunities they have during the day to sit in a warm, safe space and share a meal with others.

“We’re doing about half and half now throughout the day, with about 250 takeaway meals and 250 sit-down meals, so we’re hoping that when the takeaway service winds down, it will encourage more people to come in.

“It’s quite exciting, we’re very happy and there’s a lovely energy around the centre.” 

Ms Murphy also said that while they intend to reduce takeaway services, there will still be an element of takeaway meals available to those who need it.

“There will always be a certain aspect of a takeaway service. If people are struggling and need a takeaway for whatever reason, we will definitely work with them on that,” said Ms Murphy.

“For now, we will be maintaining the two, but ultimately, we would like to go back to sit-down fully.” 

The new sit-down service, offering hot breakfast, lunch and dinner meals, will operate from Monday to Friday from 9am to 1pm.