Sir, - Colm Keena's article (June 15th) on the employment of young people under 18 include the example of a 16 year old girl working (apparently) a 15 hour day to earn around £50 by collecting money for the Irish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children. This raises two serious questions about the operating policies of the ISPCC which its chief executive does not answer in the quoted response.
Firstly the ISPCC has frequently, and strongly, criticised health boards and other State agencies for not fulfilling the requirements of the 1991 Child Care Act. The Act defines a child as anyone up to the age of 18. Here a child of 16 is actively facilitated in spending eight to nine hours on the street to earn £13, followed by several more hours going round pubs until closing time. No doubt the girl herself and her parents are well able to take responsibility for their own decisions, but how responsible is it for a campaigning child care organisation to actively encourage this kind of activity?
Secondly, I presume that most people donating to street collectors believe, as I had, that these collectors are volunteers and that the full donation goes to the organisation. We now learn that 25 per cent goes to the collectors who are, in effect, paid staff working on a casual basis. Many charities, clubs, etc., use street" collection as a means of fund raising. In most cases I assume, perhaps naively, that the collectors for bona fide organisations - are giving their own time voluntarily rather than doing a job of work for pay. If organisations such as the ISPCC blur the lines in this way there will surely be a growing reluctance amongst the public generally to make casual donations in the streets, pubs and clubs. The ISPCC needs to look again at its methods of fund raising as well as its treatment of the young people whose interests it seeks to represent. - Yours etc.
Weirview Drive,
Stillorgan,
Co Dublin.