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Frequently Asked Questions

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Services FAQs

Do you have a children’s service in my area?

Children’s Services are based in Cork, Clare, Cavan, Dublin (Tallaght & Sandymount), Galway, Kerry, Kildare, Kilkenny, Limerick, Mayo, Meath, Monaghan, North Tipperary, Wicklow. Find out more about your local children’s services centre.

Do you have an adults service in my area?

Adult Services are based in Clare, Cork, Dublin (Dun Laoghaire, Crumlin, Sandyford), Galway, Kerry, Limerick, Mayo, Meath. Find out more about your local adult services centre.

How can I get a referral to Enable Ireland?

Referrals may be made by any relevant person who may include a medical consultant, parent/guardian, GP, HSE, maternity hospital, children’s hospital or community service depending on local agreements. Each Enable Ireland centre has its own Access to Service criteria and the relevant person referring this child should consider the criteria and their application to the child. The access to service criteria in each service area will include such information as: the geographic area the service extends to, the age range of children who can avail of the services and the types of disabilities or developmental concerns identified in the children who would benefit from the services.
Find out more about Access & Referrals to children’s services.

To find out more about Access & Referrals to adult’s services contact your local service centre.

What services are Enable Ireland contracted to provide?

Each Enable Ireland service region is contracted by the HSE to provide, for that area, services to children and their families/parents/guardians. The range of services that Enable Ireland provides in a region depends on the specific contract in place between Enable Ireland and the HSE and will vary from place to place. Furthermore, Enable Ireland’s ability to provide services is dependent on what resources are made available by the HSE to each Enable Ireland service region.
Find our more about children’s services in your area.
Find out more about adult’s services in your area.

What projects are Enable Ireland currently fundraising for?

Kerry (new Children’s services building in Tralee)

  • Will contain a pre-school, therapy room, multi-sensory room, physiotherapy room and hydrotherapy pool

Kildare (new Children’s Services building in Naas)

  • Will contain hydrotherapy pool, gross motor function rooms, life skills room, treatment rooms, observation rooms, toy equipment rooms

Cavan (new Children’s Services building)

  • Will include dedicated therapy rooms

How are Enable Ireland funded?

Our core funding comes from the HSE. We also get various grants from other government departments and statutory agencies.

Our retail chain also generated funds and we raise funds through campaigns, such as the Enable Ireland No Limits Kite Appeal which takes place in September and has taken over from the previous Action Week on Disability, and through community fundraising. Find out more about how you can help support Enable Ireland.

Do families have to pay for service?

No. All our service are provided to families free of charge.

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Retail FAQs

Where is my local Enable Ireland shop?

Shops are in Dublin (6), Clare, Cork (2), Drogheda, Galway, Limerick, Longford, Mayo, Meath, Sligo, Tipperary, Waterford, Wicklow. Find out more about Enable Ireland shops.

How can I donate clothing and brick a brack to Enable Ireland?

You can donate to Enable Ireland in three ways

  1. Directly into our shops
  2. Through textile banks (over 100 nationwide)
  3. Through house collections (when you get a yellow bag through your door.
  4. Corporate
    1. Through Bring Back Days, this is where a company arrange for all the staff to bring in a donation on a given day and we come to collect it. (we would need a minimum guarantee of about 100 bags to make it financially viable)
    2. Retailers can donate end of line stock or damaged stock. We already receive donations like this from many retailers.

What can I donate to Enable Ireland?

We take all textiles and shoes, good quality bric-a-brac, books, small toys in good condition / unopened in their original boxes and mobile phones.

What items do you not accept?

  1. Furniture - unfortunately out shops do not have the capacity to stock furniture
  2. Electrical items  - for health and safety reasons we are unable to accept electrical items
  3. Broken bric a brac
  4. Broken or large toys

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Charity Bag Collections FAQs

I’ve received a yellow Enable Ireland bag through my door, what should I do?

Simply fill them with your unwanted items and leave them outside your door for collection on the day specified on the bag. Enable Ireland house collections take place every three months nationwide. Before making a collection we post our yellow charity bags through your door. Your unwanted goods can mean much needed funds for our services.

How do I know when the next collection will take place?

It will say at the bottom of the yellow bag wrapper. Just look along the days of the week until you see a tick. Our bags are posted at least two days before a collection, so for example, if you’ve received the bag on a Friday and the tick is for a Monday, it will be the following Monday that your collection will take place.

I’ve heard about bogus collectors in the news, how do I know that the bag is from a reputable charity?

Unfortunately what was once an effective way of removing the hassle from donating unwanted good to genuine charities is being spoilt by illegitimate groups who claim to be collecting for charity but in fact are not. You may have received a variety of charity bags through your door and it is important to make sure that you use a bag which is legitimate. All Enable Ireland bags carry a registered charity number and our contact details. As well as this, a good item to look out for is the Irish Charity Shops Association logo – this tells you that the charity is registered and reputable. For more information on the ICSA, visit their website on www.icsa.ie.

What if I’m not home when the pick-up is scheduled?

You do not need to be in on the day of your pick-up. Our pick up times are between 7.30am and 10am. You can simply leave the bag outside your front door where our collectors will be able to see it. 

What if it’s not safe to leave my bag outside?

You can reduce the risks of your bag being picked up by bogus collectors by putting it out the morning of the collection instead of the night before. Alternatively, if you’re going to be at home on the day of the collection in your area, and during the collection hours of 7.30am to 10am, we can arrange to have our driver ring your doorbell to make the collection. You will need to call when you get the bag and at least one day before your collection is scheduled to arrange this. Please note the collection will have to be made within the collection hours and the driver may turn up at any point during these.

Alternatively, if you live near an Enable Ireland shop, you can bring the bag into the store directly. Visit our Retail Locations page to see if there is a store near you.

How to I know if the pick-up person is from Enable Ireland?

All Enable Ireland collectors wear identification, so you’ll be able to recognise us straight away.

My bag has not been collected, what should I do?

If your scheduled collection did not take place, this could have been for a number of reasons, perhaps the collector couldn’t visibly see your bag or the bag was left out after the specified collection hours. Please help us to rectify the problem by giving us a call on our freephone number 1850 204 304.