Businesses demand cap on street charity collectors

BUSINESS leaders in Cork have written to the Minister for Justice demanding a cap be put on the number of charity collectors operating on the city’s streets at any one time.

Cork Business Association (CBA) has said it has received numerous complaints about the behaviour of overzealous collectors and gardaí yesterday confirmed that they had also received complaints.

CBA chief executive Donal Healy claimed yesterday that he was on the receiving end of verbal abuse from one collector.

“Last Thursday myself and Peter O’Donoghue (CBA president) were in Patrick Street. A charity collector came up to us and I asked him politely if he wouldn’t mind doing us the courtesy of leaving us alone as we were discussing something important. He told us to ‘drop dead’,” Mr Healy said.

“We are getting numerous complaints from traders and shoppers alike about the method of selling adopted by some of these fundraisers. We understand that gardaí have received similar complaints about the persistent and sometimes aggressive nature of the selling techniques employed,” he added.

CBA members say they have nothing against collections or flag days, which is the traditional way for charities to raise essential funds. But they are concerned about the number of collectors on the streets, some of whom are on a percentage of the take.

“The collection for Share has become part of the Christmas trading, especially with the beautiful crib they produce in Patrick Street every year, It’s a special time and nobody has a problem with that,” Mr Healy said.

He said that on some days his members had spotted anything up to 10 sellers operating in Patrick Street.

“People are being constantly approached. It can happen every few steps. These sellers also congregate outside of stores and shoppers have a tendency to try and avoid them,” he added.

He said that CBA had recently written to Justice Minister Michael McDowell seeking a tightening up of licensing regulations.

“We would like to see permits granted and regulated on a local basis and to have these people regularly monitored. There are too many out there and we want a ceiling put on their numbers,” Mr Healy said.