https://m.independent.ie/regionals/wicklow/bray-news/wicklow-woman-whose-soup-run-fed-250-homeless-told-to-cease-or-face-300000-fine/a13824343.html

by Sornai

23 comments

  1. > It also advised that it is an offence to carry on activities in the State, “which includes inviting, or causing another person to invite, members of the public to give money or property to a charitable organisation that is not registered or deemed to be registered”, and, as it also an offence “for a body (other than a registered charitable organisation), in any notice, advertisement, promotional literature or other published material to describe itself or its activities in such terms as would cause members of the public to reasonably believe that it is a charitable organisation”, the regulator directed that the term ‘Charity Organization’ which is on the Facebook page should be removed.

    Fair enough no? Why didn’t she just register?

  2. Seems a bit odd. I am assuming that it doesn’t take too much to register as a charity, which presumably and continue what they do?

  3. I didn’t think the Charity’s regulator actually enforced these things. There are a fair few scam fundraising campaigns out there (especially “Go Fund Me” campaigns for areas like Autism or MNDS which seems to be the trendy ones for scam artists at the moment) and they never seem to get pulled up on it. A few of them even have national campaigns and huge media coverage but aren’t actully registered charities etc so no oversight or reporting on how the money raised gets spent. It seems like this woman was actually doing something tangeible that could be checked (feeding the homeless). If she is genuine, which she seems to be, I hope someone can help her get registered with the regulator and get back to helping people.

  4. This is a consequence of a few people taking the piss with charities over the last few decades, meanings meanings charities regulator takes a super hard line with everyone on the rules now.

    It seems nuts in her case, but considering that other “charities” take donations and barely track where they are going other than into CEOs pockets, you can see why the regulator has such a hard line.

    Unfortunately we can’t have nice things cause someone is always looking to game the system

  5. People complain that there are too many charities in Ireland and too little oversight of those charities.

    The same people will complain that this woman can’t run an unregistered charity.

    There’s literally nothing to stop her volunteering at one of the many registered charities that do this exact work. Or just registering the charity she is running.

  6. Unfortunately, charities had to be regulated to stop people using bogey charities to make money of generous people. It’s especially necessary with food because of the risk of contamination and poisoning. Now, whether the requirements placed on a charity like this are overly burdensome is another issue entirely.

  7. Just partner with a legit charity and expand it to Wicklow / soup making??

  8. I guess if the government did its job in providing the needed support, they’d have no time to stop others that are doing their job for them.

  9. I sympathize with them. However, if unregistered charities are allowed collect money with no oversight it’s just a recipe for scamming. Pretty sure the regulator won’t fine them €300k if everything is in order.

    Edit: The reply below me pointed out that the charity claims the registration isn’t an issue, rather the regulatory requirement to use a commercial kitchen – which seems excessive alright.

  10. Ah sure, no charity register, no kitchen,no regulatory oversight, no heath and safety inspections, no food safety checks, no insurance… No anything..

    I’m sure her intentions are good but I’ve seen some nasty ass home kitchens, what if those homeless people got sick or, god forbid, died because the rules don’t apply cos she had “good intentions”?

  11. She’s a great woman.

    The problem is that the State can’t regulate something without it becoming a pain in the hole to comply, and the whole exercise becomes more like a job than a hobby, and she has a job already.

    Running it unregulated is all fun and games until 250 people get food poisoning and a few of them die, then the question will be “how did the State let this happen?”.

    Anyway, good on her for trying to help people.

  12. Just to clarify. She ,(or anybody else) does not need a commercial kitchen to make soup for homeless people.

    Her real reasons for choosing not to register the charity are known only to her.

  13. I mean I get the impulse too and the thought behind it was definitely the right one but you have to have the same rules for everyone. Your kitchen HAS to be registered and up to scratch. I work in the food and drink industry and have seen some fucking mental kitchens over my time actually serving food. I’ve gotten the worst food poisoning too. She’s feeding vulnerable people and they can’t afford to get a bad dose of food poisoning. People sometimes forget that cooking large amounts of food and its handling is very different to cooking for 5-10 people. You could make people very very sick. There’s loads of stuff that regular people don’t know that can cause some huge damage. Btw this happens ALL the time. Register as charity, get a kitchen from donations, do it properly.

  14. The government doesn’t want you to feed anybody, it shows to people how bad they are.

  16. Seems reasonable to me that homeless people should have the same food safety requirements as the rest of the population. She is more then able to get her kitchen registered with the hse as long as it is up to regulation. I can only imagine how awful it would be to get food poisoning and not gave easy access to a toilet. I applaud the charity commission for ensuring that when people give to an organisation that it is actually a registered charity because let’s face it even registered charities have had some hard to swallow practices thinking of Rehab for one

  17. I’m sure she meant well but once anything you are doing gets that big you need to have rules and regulations and they need to be followed. 

    People are already a losing trust in charities, and some of it is due to people being straight up crooks but a lot issues with charities is to do with people not know what they are doing and not doing things properly. Money goes missing or is misspent and no one has stolen it or misused it, there was just no system and process for spending and accounting for the money.

    And that doesn’t even get into other issues that come with working with vulnerable people. If you aren’t a charity then no one is legally responsible for garda vetting, so it doesn’t get done. 

    And none of the volunteers would necessarily have the right training to make sure no issues arise or people don’t cross lines. Don’t have sex with vulnerable adults who you give charity/support to should be blinding obvious but we’ve seen it happen in other places, and that is why we need legal frameworks. 

    I’m sure she is right, the government don’t want people feeding homeless people on Grafton Street, but that doesn’t mean the rules around charities are unnecessary.

  18. Seems like it’s more related to food regulation than charity regulation. They weren’t able to fund running a proper regulated soup kitchen. It’s a bit of a catch 22. If someone ran a terrible kitchen and gave everyone food poisoning, then they’re putting people in real danger. However given the chances of it happening, the regulation is preventing a lot of people from doing good with what’s available to them. Can’t have it both ways really.

  19. “You should note that a body that is set up as a charitable organisation cannot commence activities, such as fundraising, or providing services, until it is registered i.e. until its application has been determined.”

    You’re supposed to register before you take donations.

  21. I’ve read the article thoroughly and there is no mention anywhere of kitchen facilities. The charity regulator is not concerned with food hygiene. It’s as simple as this: you can’t call yourself a charity if you aren’t one.

    This is not to detract in any way from the amazing work that this group has done.

  22. There are people who’ve registered their home kitchens with hse for starting small food businesses. Couldn’t she have done that instead of shutting down due to lack of access to a commercial kitchen?

    Its bad that a charity like this has to shut down, but we have regulations for good reasons.

  23. There is definitely something dodgy here.

    Collette Talbot is running around the local area giving out about “the gubbermunt”, yet refuses to become registered so the charity’s finances and donations can be transparent.

    She hands out food gathered from uninspected, unregulated, private kitchens and when asked if homeless people deserve the same food hygiene regulations as the rest of us, Collette gets angry and refuses to answer.

    If you dare ask a question about her “charity” you’re called “anti-homeless” and other insults.

    Things will be revealed about this set-up.

    People in Greystones and surrounding areas are beginning to cop on to this “charity”.

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