CGarvey.ie - The personal website of Cathal Garvey

For some time now, most urban areas in Ireland have been inundated with leaflets, stickers or plastic bags from alleged charities who want your old/second-hand clothes, shoes, linen and, in some cases, toys and more expensive items.

Most, if not all, of these are operated without a licence (you need a door-to-door waste collection permit to operate in this fashion), are publishing false details on their leaflets/stickers (invalid charity numbers, non-existent websites/phone numbers), and are publishing deliberately misleading statements (such as pretending that your clothes are going directly to 3rd world destinations, or that they are a charity). Even more sinister is that many are run but some pretty significant criminal gangs.

Such is the significance of the problem that a website has been dedicated to highlighting the issue. It’s ClothingCollection.org run by Donncha O’Caoimh. He also has a good post explaining the issue on his own blog.

Being no stranger to most flyers that are seen on ClothingCollection, I came upon a strange twist today. 2 stickers arrived having been hand-delivered by the same chap at around 5.45am. In challenging times in illegal / fake charity collection, it appears they’re doubling up on resources!

Some action against these gangs (TCM report: Girl, 17, in court for bogus charity collection) has happened, but much too little, in my opinion.

The 2 stickers delivered were for, as discussed on ClothingCollection, Second Hand Rose and Second Life:

The 8-year old trial of the new digitial radio system for the emergency services (not just the Gardaí) has come under some fire for its delay in provisioning, with Gardaí having to use their own mobile phones, at their personal expense, in many cases where sensitive communications is required, or in an area not served by the existing analouge system.

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An Post have issued a press release on their new mobile phone top up facility available from Monday. Now aside from the fact that you won’t see any details on An Post’s own website for some time yet (even though press release has been released and is already getting media coverage), you can find details on the PostPoint website.

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Irish web awards, until now, have been steeped in controversy over their high entry fees, questionable judging, and strict/expensive entry criteria (e.g. Golden Spiders).

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Damien Mulley has started “Tuesday Push” where an Irish web company, or web app, gets highlighted by bloggers, each with their own review. I haven’t taken part yet, but Toddle struck me by it’s simplicity and so I wanted to jump on board the Tuesday Push.

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