Irish charities make pitch for water refund money
Howard Lake | 6 November 2017 | News
Three charities in Ireland have agreed to join forces and form a national campaign to ask the Irish public to consider donating their refunds from Irish Water to tackle the country’s homelessness crisis.
Simon Community, Focus Ireland and Peter McVerry Trust are planning a major national fundraising campaign to coincide with the upcoming Irish Water national repayment scheme which will see €173 million handed back to almost one million account holders over the coming months.
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The three charities intend to launch a national advertising and public information campaign called The Refund Project. This will ask people who can feel they can afford to donate to consider the plight of Ireland’s over 8,000 people who are homeless.
The new group say that even a fraction of the total repayments could help make an enormous difference in the delivery of much needed housing.
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If the water refund doesn't make big difference to you consider donating. Appeal for water refunds to go to homeless https://t.co/IPKrS5ZhSU
— Peter McVerry Trust (@PMVTrust) November 3, 2017
A special oversight group is being formed to drive the joint initiative, chaired by the former head of the Workplace Relations Commission, Kieran Mulvey. Mr Mulvey, who recently authored the Dublin North East Inner-City Regeneration Report, says this campaign will be a simple but compelling appeal to those who can afford it, to play their part in combatting the homelessness crisis.
He said: “There will be one million refunds and a total of €173 million being handed back and that could be of enormous assistance to over 8000 people who are currently homeless in this country.”
Meanwhile, other commentators have called for developing world charities to benefit from the refund, particularly those affected by poor water supplies.
We are joining @SimonCommunity and @FocusIreland to appeal for water refunds to tackle homelessness https://t.co/Klph1vk59K
— Peter McVerry Trust (@PMVTrust) November 3, 2017
About Howard Lake
Howard Lake is consultant editor of UK Fundraising. He founded the site in 1994 and successfully sold it in 2022. As director of Giving X Ltd he is exploring growing giving on a massive scale.
He is the founder of Fundraising Camp and co-founder of GoodJobs.