“Suspicious” clothing banks need investigation, Donegal MD is told

Concerns over dubious and unlicensed clothing banks that are appearing in and around public areas within the Municipal District was brought to the attention of officials and councillors of the Donegal Municipal District at their recent July meeting by Cllr Noel Jordan.

He told fellow councillors that he had observed a number of these clothing bins in the area.

“A number has been planted around the place, and they appeared out of nowhere and it all sounds suspicious to me,” he said.

He referenced the fact that one of them which had been located beside the Community Centre in Mountcharles had been moved four times.

Cllr Jordan (SF) suggested that whoever is providing these unsolicited bins are doing it themselves and that “some of these are really bogus”, as there was little to identify where their origins were and who was to be the beneficiary, when the clothes were collected.

He also claimed that locals were getting the blame for discarded articles, which he said was obvious, these collectors were just casually tossing aside when they came back to take the contents of these bins.

He said that some items that were being deposited by god meaning people, were being randomly discarded near the same banks

E had contacted the council to lift some of them banks as he believed that they were not legitimate and there were no contact numbers attached to the bins/banks and the council was totally unaware of many of them.

“The things that have been donated in good will are shifted through and many of the items are simply thrown aside, if these people deem them to be not to their liking.”

They were also denying legitimate collectors and he also queried the authenticity of some of the door to door collections that have taken place in the county over recent years.

Cllr Jordan affirmed his beliefs afterwards:

“I want to get clarification from the environment section of Donegal County Council, as to where it sits with them regarding clothing banks. I do know that we provide some of them ourselves but there are a number out there that have not been provided by the local authorities.

“Recently in my own town of Mountcharles a huge amount of clothing that these clothing banks do not accept, like duvets, pillows and stuff like that has been emptied in close proximity to where the bin was. We feel that it is the people that emptied the banks that left them there and the ordinary public are getting the blame for this.”

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“These green bins and I have spoken to the local community committee, have not been given any permission to put it there, in the first place. This particular bin has been moved two or three times due to complaints and it arrives beside the community centre, where I do not think, should be a place to put it, as it also encourages other people to dump rubbish beside it,” he added.

Council officials said they would investigate further and come back to the next MD meeting, which will take place in September.