Spades for syringes

Sir, - On Sunday last we had our annual Christmas dinner in Failti u (formerly Brother Sebastian's Tea Rooms)

Sir, - On Sunday last we had our annual Christmas dinner in Failti u (formerly Brother Sebastian's Tea Rooms). Almost 200 people came - no tickets required. Most of those who came were homeless; some of them were young drug-users who live on the streets.

This year there was a difference. The turkeys were reared at St Francis Farm in Tullow, Co Carlow and the potatoes, carrots and sprouts were all grown on the farm. St Francis Farm is part of the Merchants' Quay Project's drug-free programme. Former drug users bred the turkeys - leading to jokes about "cold turkey". They also grew the vegetables.

The fact that former drug users could supply the raw material for a Christmas dinner for Dublin's homeless means that instead of "hammering their swords into ploughshares, their spears into sickles" (Isaiah 2.4) they have replaced their syringes with spades. There is hope. Happy Christmas. - Yours, etc.,

Gerry Raftery, OFM,Failtiu and Merchant's Quay Project, Franciscan Friary, Merchants' Quay, Dublin 8.