Retailers have been urged to help ease the plight of poor families during the run-up to Christmas with parents facing pressure to spend this Christmas have already begun turning to charity for help.
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Colomba Faulkner, of the Society of St Vincent de Paul, said the charity was already receiving letters from parents worried they could not afford the demands of the Christmas season.
"Already today we have been receiving letters," she said. "One was from a woman with three sons who said she couldn't afford to buy them clothes, let alone think about Christmas.
"From the moment Hallowe'en is over people start to think it's November and Christmas is just down the road.
"This puts a huge pressure on them, it's a very stressful time of year."
She said Christmas was the busiest time for the charity, which provides families with food, toys and clothes, often donated by large companies.
Yesterday Mary Coughlan, Minister for Social and Family Affairs, said shoppers were already being swamped "with a Yuletide of goods and decorations in a rush to start the Christmas season".
She urged traders to show restraint as Christmas goods began to jostle for space on shop shelves with this week's Hallowe'en items.
The minister said: "Christmas appears to be starting earlier every year. Christmas displays in shop windows, on shop shelves and the erection of Christmas decorations are putting families under pressure."
Colomba Faulkner said she doubted retailers would heed the minister and take action.
"I join with her in that, she's right to call for it," she said. "I don't know whether anyone's going to listen to it though, retailers are concerned with the loss of money."
Retailers were today critical of the minister's remarks.
Tom Coffey, chief executive of Dublin City Business Association, said: "She (Mary Coughlan) needs to live in the real world. The reality is it's November and the Christmas trading period runs from November 1 to January 15.
"The minister should be proud of the fact that the country is performing well."
He added that many consumers were under pressure all the time, not just at Christmas.
A spokesman for Dublin Chamber of Commerce said Christmas goods appeared in shops at this time of year because of demand from consumers.
"They wouldn't be getting them in unless they were going to sell," he said. He said however that he recognised the pressure on consumers, and that there should be limits on advertising directed at children.
PA