MORE THAN 5,500 meals are set to be served by the Knights of St Columbanus for its 100^th Christmas Day Dinner in Dublin.

Some 300 volunteers will be on hand to serve around 550 sit-down meals for homeless people and anyone in need in the RDS.

There are also plans to distribute around 5,000 take away dinners and 2,500 festive gift bags.

The Knights of St Columbanus has partnered with organisations such as SVP, Alone, Simon, the HSE, Dublin City Council, Age Action Ireland, and other groups who will bring meals and festive gift bags to people in their own homes or shelters.

The event starts at 11am and the Knights of St Columbanus will provide a free shuttle bus for guests to and from the RDS, with pick-up points in central Dublin, including Clery’s Clock on O’Connell Street, the Four Courts and the Mansion House.

As well as a three-course meal, there will also be entertainment such as Irish dancers and musicians.

The Knights of St Columbanus is an Irish Catholic organisation founded in Belfast in 1915 by James K O’Neill.

The first Christmas Day Dinner, in 1924, was provided to 500 guests, mostly homeless men, in Dublin’s Mansion House.

For the first 70 years, the event was hosted at the Mansion House but due to increasing demand, it was relocated to the RDS, where it has been held annually since 1994.

Trevor Macnamara, chair of the Christmas Day Dinner Organising Committee, thanked the RDS management for “generously offering the venue to make this charitable event possible”. 

“My appreciation extends to all the different generations of volunteers who have been involved over the past 100 years—those working in the kitchen, managing parking, escorting guests to their meals, as well as the drivers and performers who make this event special, and to those who are no longer with us but have left a remarkable legacy for the event,” said Macnamara.