A six-month-old Dublin cafe has vowed to get an elderly lady back all of her pension money after she was brutally robbed by a thug outside a post office on Friday morning.
The pensioner had her handbag snatched seconds after collecting the money outside Drimnagh Post Office on Errigal Road.
The cruel theft happened on a week where nearly €300m in social welfare payments will be made to the long-term unemployed, pensioners, carers, people with disabilities, lone parents among others with over 1.2 million people being paid from December 2 for Christmas.
Pip's Cafe and Deli in Crumlin were disgusted to hear of the news and immediately set up a fundraiser to return the money to the nearby resident.
Owner of the Cafe Paul McDonald told Dublin Live: "We really need to keep an eye out on our elderly people this time of year.
"To carry out an attack like that, that thief must have absolutely no shame.
"After hearing the news, we immediately decided to kick off a collection to arrange for all of her money to be returned.
"We didn't want this lady to be at any financial loss at this time of year so we wanted to insure her cash is reimbursed."
Originally, the cafe had decided to pay the outstanding amount after the fundraising had died down over the weekend but it now looks like the donations will exceed the suspected amount needed.
He added: "People have been dropping in donations all morning. We're not sure of the exact amount but we think the elderly lady is €500 out of pocket and we're well over half way there after just a couple of hours.
"I've talked to the senior citizens' club which the lady is a part of and we hope to have reimbursed her fully by Sunday afternoon."
Paul added that any extra money raised would be additionally given to the pensioner and donated elsewhere around the area.
