Number 2 Palace Street is one of Dublin’s oldest buildings. For nearly 140 years, between 1855 and 1992, it was home to a charitable society with the strangest of names, the Sick and Indigent Roomkeepers Society.
“Indigent” means poor, while “Roomkeepers” were tenants – sometimes entire families – who lived in one room of a house. The facade of this 18th-century building still bears, in deeply incised lettering, the legend “Sick & Indigent Roomkeepers Society, founded AD 1790″.
The Society boasts that it is Dublin’s oldest surviving charity. Now based in Fitzwilliam Square, it continues the good work it has done since 1790. The Society’s mission since its foundation has been to provide assistance to the people of Dublin without distinction of race, gender, religion or politics. The need for the assistance the society is in a position to give is as great as ever.
To perhaps a surprising extent, the types of poverty the society’s founders identified and tried to address through the establishment of the society in 1790 continue to be a priority – namely, poverty due to illness, unemployment, addiction and other unforeseen circumstances.
The society’s remit was confined originally to Dublin’s inner city, but today it extends to the entire city and county of Dublin. A core principle of the society is to target assistance towards helping people who are experiencing temporary difficulties and need once-off assistance that will make a sustainable difference to the life and wellbeing of the individuals or families in question.
In recent times, a particular focus has been on helping people to purchase furniture and other household necessities when they are moving from homeless accommodation into unfurnished local authority housing and need additional resources to make it fully habitable.
The society accepts applications for assistance submitted by social workers in State agencies and other relevant bodies. In the current year, the society has granted more than €95,000 in assistance to end-November – mostly in relatively small amounts per application.
The total number of beneficiaries so far this year is 120, giving an average grant of assistance of about €800. Such small amounts of assistance are often more efficacious euro-for-euro in relieving distress than larger sums, and it is extraordinary how even a modest amount of assistance can alter a person’s circumstances.
The financial challenges the society faces today are similar to those that other charities are experiencing at this time. It is more difficult than ever to raise money, and investment returns are low, though the society continues to attract a gratifying level of donations and bequests.
The society also benefits from an annual church collection in a number of centre city parishes, courtesy of the Archbishop of Dublin. To raise some additional funds, it has recently launched a print and greeting card featuring a painting of the Society’s former premises at Palace Street, Dublin, by the distinguished artist and author Peter Pearson.
He purchased the building from the Society in 1992 and expertly restored it to its original use as a family residence. He generously granted permission to the Society to make reproductions of his painting as a means of fundraising. All proceeds from the sale of the print and cards will go towards funding the work of the Society.
Bishop Donal Roche, Auxiliary Bishop of Dublin, formally launched the print and cards on November 12th last in Dublin’s Mansion House. The Lord Mayor, Cllr James Geoghegan, kindly sponsored the launch. There was special significance in that, for previous lord mayors of Dublin were closely associated with the society.
For much the 19th century the lord mayor was an honorary trustee of the society and took the chair at its annual general meetings – as Daniel O’Connell did in 1842 when he was lord mayor. Alfie Byrne, during his long period as lord mayor, used to broadcast a Christmas appeal on Radio Éireann every year on behalf of the society.
In his remarks at the launch, Bishop Roche noted that the society has been “a trusted brand over three centuries” and that it has continued, up to the present day, to fulfil its core mission of helping Dublin-based homeowners and renters to maintain a dignified standard of living”.
He said: “Anyone can fall on hard times and many individuals and families in Dublin are struggling. Budgets are tight and unexpected events such as serious illness and inability to work can throw an individual or an entire family off balance. Roomkeepers tries to bridge the gap when the unforeseen happens or when already complex situations reach a tipping point. Enabling people to get their lives back on track following disruption due to illness, abandonment, or job loss, Roomkeepers provide once-off stopgap funding that other agencies cannot meet.”
The proud motto of the society is: “Serving the poor of Dublin since 1790, and still serving”. The print and cards can be purchased via the society’s website roomkeepers.com
Felix M Larkin, historian and retired civil servant, is a trustee of the Sick and Indigent Roomkeepers Society.
