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18th Jun 2020

Irish company donates €100k worth of supplies to Direct Provision centres

Sarah Finnan

direct provision centres

Headed up by Irish dentists Dr Lisa and Dr Vanessa Creaven, the company has donated €100k worth of dental products to be distributed in direct provision centres around the country.

Spotlight Oral Care is making good on their promises for actionable change, taking the first step by donating over €100,000 worth of dental products to be distributed in direct provision centres around the country.

With events over in America calling for people to take a closer look at the systems in place in their own communities, many Irish people are only learning about the realities of the direct provision system now for the first time.

A system used to house asylum seekers in Ireland, approximately 7,000 people are living in direct provision centres across the country – many of which have no cooking facilities. Adults receive a weekly allowance of just €38.80 a week while children receive €28.90 and people often live in shared spaces with little regard for privacy.

Taking a step back from speaking online to learn, listen and think about “who they are as a brand, what they stand for and how they can do better”, a spokesperson for the team said that they have been actively working towards supporting causes here in Ireland.

Working to ensure their commitment to inclusion is at the core of their operations on a global level, they’ve started by donating essential oral care products to the ‘Let’s Help’ initiative (@letshelpdirectprovision). Set up by Louisamay, the GoFundMe page has currently raised over €45k worth of donations along with 17,000 units of children’s toothpaste (worth €100k) from the guys at Spotlight.

Saying that they “want to be part of the change”, co-founder Dr Vanessa Creaven added that the brand was built on caring for the community and that this is the company’s first step in showing their support.

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