I’ll Get Your Coat

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Kindhearted Dubliners began hanging the jackets up earlier this week as part of the #warmforwinter appeal.

The initiative drew universal praise on social media with many hailing it as a “brilliant” idea.

But footage emerged on Saturday evening of a man, believed to be working for Dublin City Council, gathering up the jackets and taking them off the bridge.

Onlookers ‘outraged’ at removal of coats for the homeless from Ha’penny Bridge (DublinLive)

Rollingnews

Previously: ‘Need A Coat? Take One. Want To Help? Leave One’

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29 thoughts on “I’ll Get Your Coat

    1. Broadbag

      ”hundreds of ‘horrified’ onlookers” This bloke is a massive tool and clearly a moron, yet very much indicative of the knuckle-dragging dumbnuts who rush to get outraged any chance possible and don’t stop to think beyond the headline or the image.

  1. Rob_G

    It’s a very thoughtful initiative – but if it rains the coats will be soaked and useless to anyone, and if it gets windy, some will end up in the river, and then the sea.

    There are a half a dozen charity shops within a mile of there, and another half a dozen homeless shelters – surely they would be able to be kept indoors in one those place, and still be available to anyone that needs one?

    1. Qwerty123

      But if you leave them into a charity shop, you will not get a cool instagram photo op in public. Much better to leave them get soaking wet on the bridge, take a selfie, hashtag some politician giving out about homelessness and go about your day oblivious to the fact you have changed nothing but damage to property, cost the DCC money and litter the river and or sea.

      1. Chris

        Exactly! This is just publicity stunt, the homeless charityies give out free clothes at the same time as the free meals every evening- but it doesn’t allow a complext issue to be boiled down to a pic for the gram.

  2. newsjustin

    There are plenty of better places to leave coats than hanging them on a bridge where they’ll get soaked within the day.

    As much as it might have some charitable intent, it’s a step removed from littering.

    1. Brother Barnabas

      it’s not just about providing coats though – it’s also about making a very public and visible point, which for sure embarrassed the government (and DCC too)

      1. Daisy Chainsaw

        Won’t someone please think of the hotels!! Imagine how embarrassed they’ll be when tourists find out the leprechauns are homeless.

        1. Really Trivial Entertainment

          Hateful comment is hateful.

          Where is the Blueshirt hate speech law when you need it?

  3. Lp Custo

    I saw a lot of tweets – including from people who do soup runs etc – saying that this isn’t the right way to go about this and asking that the coats be donated to shelters / charities etc. While the intention is good, there’s no guarantee that they’ll end up in the hands of the people who need them if they’re just left on the bridge.

  4. Skeptik

    The bridge is a fragile structure, remember the damage the “love locks” were doing?
    Having soggy coats hanging on the cast iron railings probably don’t do them any good.
    Like Rob_G says, there are plenty of more appropriate ways to distribute clothing.

    1. Slightly Bemused

      Also worth pointing out that with the high winds over the weekend, peaking in Dublin on Saturday night, I believe, the coats would have acted as a large sail area, putting physical stress on the bridge that it would not have been designed to withstand. Having nearly been bowled over myself on a quick shops run, I would be very wary of the strength of the winds. after all, for centuries they sent boats hurtling across the surface of the planet.

      I think the idea is a good one, but the location and timing probably not the best. The example from London had the coats on a movable clothes rack, which I guess could be wheeled into shelter out of the rains. If not donated to a shelter, perhaps a similar idea would work better.

  5. class wario

    The optics are pretty terrible (and I think that was the point or at least part thereof in the first place) of the DCC employees removing them but I’d be inclined to agree that just hanging them off the bridge wasn’t the most effective course of action from a ‘providing homeless people with clothing’ POV.

    The original campaign over in the UK posted here recently involved people actually using those canvas (?) pop up wardrobe things on the street so the items in question weren’t exposed to the elements. Perhaps that could be done down by the quays instead?

  6. george

    It absolutely poured rain on Saturday night so most would have been destroyed and would have ended up in the bin. DCC took them down and gave them to the people providing services to the homeless.

    This is feel good “pay it forward” stuff that looks good on social media. If you want to do something nice to help then donate to a homeless charity or give to a homeless person directly.

  7. Clampers Outside

    He should have left them out in the rain? Is the tweeter some sort of masochist of the homeless?

  8. missred

    I agree with the initiative but think the liffey bridge is the worst place to leave coats where they’ll be soaked or fall in the river. Hanging them there unfortunately looked like just making a point instead of being practical. The clothes rack is a better idea with a cover but the council would still probably remove them

  9. Dr.Fart

    all the usual heartless ghouls out today i see. If the commenters here are indicative of the Irish public then I’m not surprised the country’s where it is at the moment.

    1. Andrew

      People talking sense are heartless now? A demonstrably stupid idea, hollow, virtue signalling nonsense.

        1. A Person

          Totally agree that this was a shameless publicity stunt. There was even an idiot on the radio yesterday demanding to know where the coats had been sent too. If you want to donate clothes give them to a homeless shelter, who will always give them out to people who need them. No. let’s grandstand on social media instead. Only happened this week after the London initiative was highlighted. Pathetic.

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