Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

As other Deputies have already stated, the CRC scandal has done untold damage to the fund-raising potential of charities across the country. Instead of delivering, for example, 14 full-time physiotherapists or occupational therapists, as would have been intended by those who made donations to the CRC in its Christmas bear appeal, half of the money was spent on a golden handshake. It is a scandal that people put their hands in their pockets in straitened times with an understanding of where the money is supposed to go only to be left with a big black hole in the funding and financing of the CRC because it paid out such a handsome sum to the man at the top.

The need for support for charities, as noted by Deputies, has risen sharply in recent years, and they are needed more now than ever. Some of this need comes because of budget cuts from this and the previous Government but it is also due to underspending on services etc. In 2011 alone there was a 35% increase in demand for the services of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, and that rate has increased again in 2012 and 2013. That is the scale of the crisis arising from needs in our society. The Simon Community saw similar increases in the numbers of people seeking its service, and many other charities helping people in dire need have seen increased service demands as people have grown poorer because of the recession. Services that they relied on have not been able to deliver for such people.

The unravelling scandal means that many people who were previously very generous and donated to people less well off than themselves are no longer doing so. In some cases these people had very little but the Irish have always been generous, and we are renowned throughout the world because of that. I hope this scandal will not prevent people from being generous, and I appeal to the Irish public to continue giving at the same rate to charities. We have the responsibility to deal with the legacy of the CRC and ensure that no other charity will end up in the same position. Representatives of other charities will come before the Committee of Public Accounts and I hope they have put their houses in order. We should be able to say at the end of this period that charities in Ireland are properly regulated and the funding and donations goes where they are meant to.

The second part of the legislation before us deals with an omission from the previous Government in a Charities Act, which we raised at the time. This relates to organisations advocating for human rights which were excluded in being recognised as a charity. The matter should be addressed, which is why it is contained in this very short piece of legislation. I remind the House of what the now Minister of State, Deputy Joe Costello, stated at the time about the same issue. He indicated:

It is still beyond me why he [a Minister of State, former Deputy John Curran] is not prepared to accept a wording that provides specifically for the promotion and advancement of human and civil rights. Any of the areas that are covered do not cover the entire gamut of civil and human rights. These are organisations specifically dedicated to human rights. Amnesty International is one such organisation but its remit is not covered by the terms of this legislation [the Charities Act 2009].

He continued to say that the Minister of State at the time, former Deputy John Curran, had indicated that the status quo would not be interfered with but that the wording that clearly underpins our commitment as a country to the promotion and advancement of human and civil rights should be allowed. During the debate I also wholeheartedly agreed with the then Deputy representing Galway West, Michael D. Higgins, when he stated:

One could also argue that the last decade - the last five years in particular - have seen a retreat from the rights perspective internationally, so the amendment would be a very good thing. The most progressive NGOs are expressing their interest and wish to operate on a rights basis.

He also stated that the acceptance of the amendment at the time would save time in future in amending or reviewing the legislation. He argued that the Minister of State at the time should have considered how the accommodation of five or six words would represent so many possibilities for the people interested in the area. We are appealing to the Minister in this respect today, and I said the same thing in my contribution at the time. As Deputy Mac Lochlainn indicated, the omission was contrary to the Good Friday Agreement and the equivalence principles of human rights advocacy, as such advocacy is recognised and afforded charitable status in the North. I appeal to the Minister to give an indication that this will be accepted. Not only should all the sections of the Charities Act be enacted but they should be acted upon as quickly as possible.

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