Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 24 June 2015

Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Joint Sub-Committee on Human Rights relative to Justice and Equality Matters

Charities Act 2009 and Advancement of Human Rights: Discussion

2:30 pm

Photo of Ivana BacikIvana Bacik (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the representatives, both of whom have made a very persuasive case. It seems that a relatively straightforward amendment could be made. I wish to make two points.

First, the current position does not exclude all those bodies who promote human rights. Mr. Ivan Cooper referred to the proviso regarding the promotion of the clause relating directly to the advancement of charitable purposes. Can either of the representatives give an example of the type of organisations that are able to avail of that exemption and, to assist us in making any submission, the type of bodies that cannot? In other words, what are the bodies that are currently not gone to charitable purpose or that have to go through the hoops, which Dr. Oonagh Breen mentioned, in setting up the non-political foundation and so on? Some concrete examples would be useful to us.

Second, I am not on top of this area. The Charity Commission for England and Wales, as Dr. Oonagh Breen mentioned, has carried out a guidance and the space for charity involved in the political sphere. This is soft law. Clearly, it is not in legislation but these are guidelines. Can she say a little more about how that operates alongside the statutory provision and is that a model we could usefully use here?

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