BYCRONAN SCANLON
MAJOR confusion surrounds the status of so called bogus charity clothes collections in the county it has emerged.
Recently householders were asked by Donegal County Council not to "encourage" bogus used clothes collections. Bogus collectors have been regularly dropping leaflets in Letterkenny and Ballybofey areas. Leaflets were posted through letterboxes asking for donations of clothing, bedlinen and footwear. However, a council spokesman said this week that such collections do not require a waste collection permit and are not illegal. Gardai have also admitted that there has never been a successful prosecution against such collectors and that the law was "very vague" in relation to the matter.
EPA
The council's Waste Regulation Officer, Mr Dearn McClintock, explained their situation.
"The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has given direction to Local Authorities about how to determine if such a collection involves waste or not," he said.
"In common with other local authorities Donegal County Council has conducted vehicle checkpoints to determine the status of the materials on board - the last such checkpoint was last Saturday in Ballybofey".
Mr McClintock said that where the material is able to be re-used without further processing, then it is not to be considered to be a waste and therefore does not need a waste collection permit.
"The issue where persons are passing themselves off as a charity is not to be confused with unauthorised waste activities," he concluded.
GARDAI
Meanwhile,a spokesman for the Garda Press Office said that Street and House to House Collection Permits were only needed where cash collections were taking place.
However, he said that persons who wrongly claimed to be representing charities could be guilty of deception.
"There doesn't appear to be a offence committed here at all, however, it could be false pretenses if they are passing themselves off as someone they're not. Its one of these grey areas," the garda spokesman said.
CONCERN
He added that if anyone had concerns in relation to such collections they should contact gardai and the matter would be fully investigated.
Last month persons had been dropping leaflets in Letterkenny and Ballybofey areas. A 'charity' calling itself Express Aid International (EAI) claimed in the leaflet that their aims and objectives were: "To relieve suffering by providing supplies of food, clean water, health care and education in developing countries such as Bosnia, Chernobyl and Rwanda".
An unrecognisable charity number was quoted on the leaflet, however, no record of the charity could be found. The Northern Ireland telephone number on the leaflet rang out yesterday.
CHARITY SHOPS
Ms Margaret Wilkie of the Jason Clarke Foundation (JCF) charity shop in Letterkenny said that householders should ignore such collections and donate to local charities instead.
"Local charities need the money and the help and no charity benefits from these door to door collections," she stressed.
The JCF shop is situated at the back of Greene's Market Centre in Market Square and is open Monday to Saturday from 10am to 5pm. Margaret can be contacted on 087 2602842 or at the shop 074 91 21787.
