The Union of Students in Ireland (USI) held a protest outside Avoca on Suffolk St today, just two days before Christmas, calling for an end to direct provision and to make the public aware that Aramark own Avoca.
Speaking to The University Times at the protest, the President of USI, Michael Kerrigan, explained why they chose to protest today: “A lot people in this country don’t know what direct provision is and the effect it has on people, and we are trying to spread as much awareness as possible and we felt this is a good way of doing it on such a busy day outside such a busy shop.”
Members of USI were joined by a number of Trinity College Dublin Students’ Union (TCDSU) officers, members of the Movement of Asylum Seekers in Ireland, the European Network Against Racism Ireland, former asylum seekers and members of the public.
Aramark has been accused of providing substandard food in the three direct provision centres they are contracted to cater for. These centres are in Cork, Limerick and Meath, and cater for over 1,000 asylum seekers.
The Vice-President for Academic Affairs in USI, Oisín Hassan, speaking to The University Times, said that he hoped this protest would engage more people in the movement to end direct provision. Hassan also said that “we wouldn’t expect substandard living conditions in our own lives”, stressing the importance of raising awareness around what life is like for those in direct provision.
About 30 people gathered outside Avoca handing out leaflets, holding flags and passing around a petition. The petition calls for both an increase in the quality of food provided in direct provision centers and to end direct provision completely.
USI President Michael Kerrigan outside Avoca at today’s protest.
Speaking to The University Times, the President of TCDSU, Kevin Keane, noted that coming up to Christmas, “it’s important to remember that if your going into Avoca you’re supporting Aramark and by supporting Aramark you’re supporting direct provision”.
Aramark is a US-based catering company, which currently owns a number of Irish companies, including Avoca and Costa Coffee. It currently provides the catering services to three direct provision centres in Ireland.
This protest comes less than a month after after TCDSU joins the fight against Aramark following a vote at council on November 21st to support the boycott of aramark on campus. Since 2014 the TCDSU has been mandated to campaign against direct provision.
Less than a week after TCDSU voted to support the “Aramark Off Our Campus” boycott, students in University College Dublin (UCD) launched a campaign to remove Aramark from the UCD campus.
Trinity signed a five-year lease with Aramark in 2016 for three food outlets – Freshii, Gastro and Costa Coffee – in the Hamilton building, collectively known as Westland Eats. However, over the summer Freshii was shut down, and recently Gastro has been reduced down to just a deli counter, no longer serving hot food.
Correction: December 29th, 2018
An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated that Bewleys is owned by Aramark. While the company’s catering business was sold to Aramark in 2004, Bewleys remains an Irish-owned company.
