David Cullinane (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

That is deeply unfair on Members who want to turn up for work and do their job.

It is important that we have this debate, even though it is only statements, and that we are given the opportunity to reflect on what can only be described as the scandals of recent weeks in respect of charities. Like so many issues in the State, it takes a scandal to drive the political machine to do what it should have done many years ago. That is the reality. Since the foundation of the State, charities have been unregulated. We have failed to deal with the issue simply because they were charities and people were afraid to speak out on topics such as salaries, top-up payments, bonuses and the need to regulate the sector in the first place. I believe that has done untold damage to charities and, more important, to the people who depend on them, who are the primary focus of all of us in this House.

Senator Denis O'Donovan mentioned the shiny piece of legislation the Government of which he was a member introduced in 2009 that promised to regulate the charities sector. He hailed it as significant, and it was in terms of it being a Bill that was enacted. The problem was that it was never delivered upon and was never implemented either by the previous Government or this Government and we are three years into this Government's term of office. The Labour Party and Fine Gael have had almost three years to rectify this but instead they rested on their laurels. It was only in the aftermath of the scandals of recent weeks that the Minister has acted and agreed to the establishment of a regulatory authority. Unfortunately, the failure to act on this issue has been part of the scandals we are witnessing. Despite the fact that it is welcome and certainly a step in the right direction, the establishment of a charities regulatory authority by Easter is simply not enough. We have to implement in full the 2009 Act and do so as soon as possible.

It is also important to point out, as we discuss the charities sector, that the most vulnerable in society are already suffering massively due to the unfair and unjust cutbacks which have been implemented by the Government in the past three budgets. In its analysis, the ESRI has pointed to the most vulnerable and low-paid workers and people on benefits and welfare who have disproportionately borne the brunt of those cutbacks. They are the people who depend on charities. As a result of the failure to fund many schemes and benefits which were previously funded by the State, they are turning to charities to meet basic needs such as sheltered employment, educational provision, training, recreation and food. How many Senators have had people in their clinics who cannot afford to put heating oil in their tanks or pay for food, an electricity bill or a gas bill and have turned to the Society of St. Vincent de Paul or some charity for help? I am sure every Senator has, at some point, come across families who have found themselves in that position. That is because of the policies the Minister and his party have put into action. In my view, the charities sector is filling a gap which in the era of the welfare state was the responsibility and the concern of the State. It is the poor, the disabled, the vulnerable and those groups who depend on charities for services who suffer most when people do not give to charities. We have had, on the one hand, a whole raft of cutbacks in benefits and services which these people need and, on the other, the potential damage caused to the charities sector, which cannot provide the service it could provide in the past, by a small number of charities. That is appalling. As a number of Senators have pointed out, the vast majority of charities do very good work where their chief executive officers and those at the top do not get the big salaries and top-up payments that some are receiving. As with so many things in this country, the actions of a few have damaged the many. That is unfortunate.