In Inchicore, locals and newcomers celebrate each other’s company and culture through food

A clutch of little kids flooded the stage, bouncing and wobbling, holding balloon sticks in their tiny hands.

Another group of little ones restlessly queued for face painting. A little girl coloured in pink on the ears of a cat mask.

On Saturday evening, the gymnasium at the Inchicore Sports and Social Club was jumping with music and chatter. The hall is huge and filled with dozens of people.

Lines of small country flags hung from the ceiling. On the tables around the room sat trays of chicken, jollof rice, coconut rice, smoked salmon and fish paté on home-baked soda bread, and more – recipes from all over the word, cooked in kitchens in Inchicore.

Inchicore for All, a community group set up so locals could get to know their new neighbours living nearby in an asylum shelter, arranged the feast.

Louise Fitzpatrick, one of the main organisers of the group, in an acid-green pleated skirt and a denim jacket, was bustling in and out, helping, greeting and catching up with her neighbours.

They try to do these bigger get-togethers every quarter, she says. The one on Saturday night was an all-in-one celebration of Spring, the end of Ramadan and a late Paddy’s Day party, she said.

Fitzpatrick set up the group in December 2023 when people seeking asylum moved into the neighbourhood. Many locals were super supportive, she said.

“We’re quite lucky in Inchicore. I know it’s not like that everywhere,” she says. “If the positive voices are a little louder, it drowns out the negativity.”

Getting active in these groups is vital because the asylum accommodation system isolates people seeking asylum from other people – even those living nearby, Fitzpatrick said.

Other volunteers underlined the importance of getting to know people in friendly settings, who are often demonised.

Those who are against new arrivals should come and meet them, says Christine McQuillan, an Inchicore for All volunteer. “Maybe they realise they’re actual human beings.”

Know thy neighbour

“This is about learning and respecting each other’s culture, but most of all, it’s about community,” says Sylvia O’Sullivan into the microphone from the stage.

Step outside your comfort zones, she says. “Go and introduce yourself to someone you haven’t met before.”

As dusk fell, people began to eat. Muslims in the group broke their fast and Iftared.

Those from the Middle East, yet to master the English language, sat and ate in big groups in the back, farthest away from the stage. Inchicore for All volunteers stopped by their tables.

“I got your email,” said Catherine Clarke to a woman with a red scarf.

The woman has been learning English for the past six months and was stressed out about making a phone call, said Clarke later. She had emailed to ask if Clarke, who she’d befriended through Inchicore for All, could ring for her.

“It’s easier if somebody else can make the phone call for you,” Clarke said. “I was also asking about their son who had an operation.”

Ganiu Kanisuru lounging on a sofa in the corner kept an eye on his older kids as his wife went to grab food, carrying a baby girl in a sling around her waist.

His wife was pregnant when they moved to the area, says Kanisuru.

Locals took care of her and made them feel welcome, he said. “We met a family, and they went to the hospital with my wife on her labour day; I couldn’t go. I had to take care of the kids.”

Kanisuru and his wife had cooked and brought food to the event on Saturday. His wife returns to the table with a plate of fried plantains that they’d made.

Juliet Omoregie, who’d arrived early to help out, had brought Nigerian Jollof rice, like a few others. Omoregie had attended an International Women’s Day event set up by Inchicore for All last year and decided to stick around.

It made her feel welcome, Omoregie said. “They help us integrate,” she said.

Some had come from asylum shelters outside of Inchicore. They either heard about the event through friends and contacts, or they’d turned up to Inchicore for All events before, and a friendship with Inchicorians blossomed, they said.

Standing in the middle of the hall is Dorismary C. Opara, with a big ginger afro. She said it was her first time attending an event like that. “I’m enjoying my time,” she said.

Like you belong

Some councillors had joined in the spring feast, too.

Sinn Féin Councillor Daithí Doolan walked about, shaking hands and nodding to the music.

Local representatives should be part of groups like this, says Doolan, who represents the Ballyfermot-Drimnagh electoral area, which includes part of Inchicore.

“It sends out a very strong clear message that we want safe, welcoming communities,” he says. “And the way you make safe, welcoming communities is by welcoming people into the community and allowing them to play an active role.”

Feljin Jose and Lauren Tuite, Green Party councillors from other areas, also dropped by.

Sinn Féin activist Mamy Nzema Nkoy, who unsuccessfully ran in local elections last year in Ballyfermot-Drimnagh, had brought mikates, the puffy pastry globes popular in her country of birth, the Democratic Republic of Congo.

She’d attached a small country flag to her tray of mikates.

Nkoy lives in Ballyfermot, she said. Saturday was her teenage son’s birthday, but she decided to come to show her support.

She faced anti-immigrant backlash last year as a Black woman running for local office, and she’s still a little deflated, said Nkoy, her smile fading.

Just as people started queuing for food, the Resistance Choir took the stage and struck up songs, rousing the room with the Italian anti-fascist anthem “Bella Ciao”.

Later, a guy with a tiny guitar entertained some of the kids as they sat at his feet and clowned around, making him giggle.