Operation starts to distribute tens of thousands of Christmas presents donated for homeless

More than 20,000 shoeboxes full of Christmas presents for homeless people have been donated by the public.

Inner City Helping Homeless teamed up with Luas operator Transdev in Dublin yesterday to try and fill one of the trams with gifts for the homeless.

The operation to distribute them to people living in emergency accommodation units begins today.

Anthony Flynn from Inner City Helping Homeless says there has been a brilliant reaction to the initiative.

He said: "The reaction has been absolutely fabulous, from companies to individuals to youth centres and so forth that have contributed and come down here and volunteered on the platform throughout the day.

"The general public's reaction to the day as usual has been absolutely amazing."