Dublin's oldest working charity, the Mendicity Institution, says vandals smashed its windows and threatened staff, forcing it to shut yesterday.
Opened in 1818, the organisation has been helping homeless people and those suffering deprivation for more than 200 years.
In 2018, it served over 25,000 meals and offered assistance to more than 830 people through Employment and Integration.
The charity says it prides itself on a welcoming ‘open door’ policy for all who need it but that it was forced to close yesterday after serious threats and vandalism.
A picture posted on twitter showed the upstairs window of the centre on Island Street in the liberties had been smashed.
We pride ourselves on a welcoming ‘open door’ policy for all who need us. Today we were forced to close after serious threats and an act of vandalism, smashing our windows. An apology to service users written in 5 languages now taped to our door. Charity is not an ‘extreme sport’ pic.twitter.com/uzY8deSBb6
— The Mendicity (@Mendicity1818) January 8, 2020
Last August, the organisation had to shut after a similar incident.
At the time, staff said they would have to consider whether or not to stop its open door policy.
