Wishbone on 16 Montague St, Dublin 2

Today.

Wishbone, which specialises in chicken wings, on 16 Montague St, Dublin 2, is donating every cent of the day’s takings (from noon) to Inner City Helping Homeless.

In fairness.

Nom.

Wishbone

Wishbone (Facebook)

Meanwhile…

Anthony Flynn, of Inner City Helping Homeless, writes:

Meals are available for collection today from our offices at 72 Amiens Street. If you’re living in emergency accommodation, you can avail of these meals.Please call 01 8881804.

This afternoon.

Legislation to remove excessive charges and restrictions on gift vouchers will not be passed in time for Christmas.

Last year, the Social Democrats launched the Consumer Rights (Gift Vouchers) Bill – to end the rip-off associated (unreasonable charges and expiry rules) with gift vouchers and cards.

The cabinet approved six months ago toa minimum five-year expiry date on gift vouchers.

Social Democrat co-leader Catherime Murphy said:

“The government has been promising since 2015 to increase protections for consumers. But there’s still no sign of the legislation to stop companies from charging maintenance fees on gift cards or selling vouchers with expiry limits of less than five years.

“It’s inexcusable that another Christmas season will come and go before consumers get the protections they deserve. The Social Democrats are keen to see action in this area.

“[our] Bill would have ensured gift vouchers are valid for at least five years, would ban charges for issuing gift vouchers and would ban the practice of applying charges to unused or inactive balances. It would also ban any charging for the repayment of credit balances on gift vouchers.”

Minister’s plans for gift-voucher expiry charge falters (Irish Times)

Previously: Don’t Look A Gift Voucher In The Mouth

Pic: Shutterstock

Colm Dore writes:

Suggested plans for the centre of Belfast, including copying the name ‘Tribeca’ from New York, seem to be interesting people, although, maybe not as the marketing strategy intended….

Previously: New £500m Tribeca project ‘will push Belfast to the forefront of European cities’ (Belfast Telegraph, November 29)

Students and teachers, including Gisela Dunlop (above), who is due a baby next month, and Richard Dunlop (above) outside Grafton College language school this morning.

Grafton College has up to 500 students. It is understood that these students will be accommodated in other schools.

More than 20 teachers say they have been told that their jobs are gone just weeks before Christmas.

There are still around two weeks in the term to go before the Christmas break.

Speaking to RTÉ News, teachers said they have no idea what is going to happen and no idea if they will be paid the wages they are owed.

Meeting held as Dublin language school ceases classes (RTÉ)

Rollingnews

Chester House in Dublin 7 was the location of an unregistered hostel for 27 separated teenage girls seeking asylum in 2009 and where the Children’s Ombudsman found the only staff present at night were two security staff

Between 2010 and 2017, 28 “unaccompanied minors” or “separated children” went missing from State care.

These are people under the age of 18 who arrive in Ireland seeking asylum without being accompanied by a parent or a guardian.

According to Tusla, four separated children went missing in 2010; six in 2011; two in 2012; two in 2013; one in 2014; five in 2015; five in 2016; and three in 2017.

Separated children don’t reside in the Direct Provision system, where other asylum seeking adults and families reside.

Instead, since 2010, separated children have been mainly cared for in foster care settings.

This followed a decade of separated children largely residing in mainly unsupervised hostels – from which hundreds such children went missing.

For example, in June 2007, five Nigerian girls, the youngest of whom was aged 11, went missing from their accommodation in Ireland and there were fears at the time that they were being used in Ireland’s sex industry.

In a 2009 report by the then Children’s Ombudsman Emily Logan, she found a stark difference between the unregistered (seven) and registered hostels (two) used by separated children in Dublin at that time.

She examined the unregistered hostels with addresses at Staircase Hostel and Brehon House, both in Dublin city centre and both of which accommodated 30 people; Sandford House, Dublin 6; Chester House, Dublin 7: Ashton House, Dublin 9; and Riversdale in Co Dublin.

The registered hostels she examined were Lansa House, Dublin 4 (which opened in 2008); and Belleview House, Dublin 24 – both of which accommodated six young people.

She found the registered hostels were run by care staff, while the unregistered hostels were run by managers who were not qualified care workers.

She found that, at night time in the unregistered hostels, the only staff present would have been security staff – while registered hostels would have had five qualified care staff at any one time during the day and two available at night time.

At the time of writing her report, Ms Logan also wrote about the “alarming” number of children who were disappearing from State care.

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