Excerpts from Minister Shatter’s speech:
“Charitable work is extremely important across many sectors of our society.
We have great diversity in our charitable organisations, ranging from
highly professionalised charity companies with multi-million euro annual
turnovers, to small local groups made up of volunteers, and everything in
between.”
“Trust is essential to charities – the trust both of their donors and
volunteers, and of their beneficiaries. The public need to feel sure that
the hard-earned money they so generously donate to charities is spent
wisely and with care and goes to help those that need it the most.
Charities work hard to foster and protect this trust. The public also need
to know that when they donate food or clothing or other items to charities
it is distributed or disposed of in a manner that benefits those intended.”
"For the most part, charities meet the high expectations we have of them -
and that they have of themselves – with energy and creativity and
integrity. And I commend the dedication of the workers and volunteers
involved."
“Recognition that public trust and confidence in charities was a precious
commodity that needed to be pro-actively supported and enhanced was perhaps
the primary motivation for the introduction of the Charities Act, and its
passage with cross-party support in 2009.”
“Increased transparency is one important part of the overall approach. In
addition to establishing a public register of all charities, the system of
regulation will, in time, result in the public availability of an annual
activity report for each registered charity. Of course, many charities
already publish annual reports and there is much good practice throughout
the sector with respect to information disclosure.”
“The Charities Regulatory Authority to be established will have a range of
functions and powers that will facilitate the development over time of a
comprehensive and balanced system of regulation.”
“As illustrated by the recently broadcast revelations about the charity
clothes recycling business, there is always a risk of the public being
misled or insufficiently informed. There is also a risk of malpractice or
abuse of charitable status through deception or of others, through criminal
activity, benefiting from charitable donations.”
“I would like to congratulate Primetime and RTE for their careful
investigative work in revealing and bringing to public attention the
activities of an organised gang targeting clothing banks. Burglary, theft
and all types of criminal activity are, of course, to be condemned.
However, there is something particularly nasty and callous in the actions
of those who steal, for their own benefit, charitable donations intended to
help those in need. I would like to inform this House that I have asked
the Garda Commissioner for a report on the activities of gangs involved in
this particularly cynical and despicable type of criminality and the action
that can be taken to bring them to justice.”