Law fails to catch up with bogus charities
There are more than 30 dubious clothes collection enterprises operating in this country competing with genuine charities that do excellent work and comply with all the rules. The Irish Charity Shops Association has been campaigning for years to get these scams eliminated. Unfortunately, the rules of evidence present significant difficulties for the gardaí in getting evidence that will stand up in court.
An equally huge scam is the sale of pre-signed mass cards in shops where there are at least seven distributors involved. There is no transparency as to where the money is going, who will offer the masses, or will they be offered at all? Cards in several shops costing €5 each bear the name of a priest in Quito, Ecuador who has been dead for two years. A priest in Kenya admitted he was getting 12 cents for each mass he was asked to offer, but the cards were sold here at €4 each.
