Local charity shops stuck with poor-quality donations in 2019

Sonja Tutty

THE operators of a number of Northside charity shops have revealed that they received more poor-quality donations in 2019 than in previous years.

Charity shops in Phibsboro and Finglas said they are receiving more donations, but many items are not able to be sold in store as they are either unwearable or broken.

Oonagh O’Connor, from Enable Ireland, said: “Overall, the stock of donations has increased, but the quality has definitely decreased.”

O’Connor believes that because people are now so aware of recycling and reusing, many bring in their old and broken items to charity shops instead of just throwing them out. She said charity shops would like to see more re-gifting where unwanted Christmas or birthday presents are donated rather than returned or exchanged.

She added: “We do like getting toys, but they are often broken and it can then cost the charity to get rid of them.”

While Enable Ireland is also receiving more unsellable items, O’Connor said the shop in Finglas does very well and praised the generosity of locals.

“The Finglas area is superb – people are very loyal to the shop and team,” she said. “The shop is high in quality, friendly and a part of the local community.”

She said that staff are usually from the area or are sometimes Erasmus students.

However, she revealed that the shop often struggles to get volunteers to help.

“The one thing I will say is that we are desperate for volunteers and are even running a Dublin volunteer campaign next month,” she added.

Roddy White, manager of Oxfam in Phibsboro, said the shop receives many broken toys, which can only be disposed of by the shop.

“We have no choice but to recycle them because there is no value to them for us,” he said.

Thankfully, the shop can still make a small profit from recycling.

“Part of our income is recycling clothes, which we get a very small value from,” White added.

Overall, White said Oxfam Phibsboro was not as busy this Christmas season compared to past years. While Oxfam’s own cards and other products sold well, not many donated items were bought.

“It wasn’t dead, but it was slower than last year,” he told Northside People. “But this was the first year I have ever sold all my Christmas cards.”