Anne Ferris (Wicklow, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I would like to welcome Dr. Breen and Mr. Cooper here today. Their presentations and what they have said make perfect sense and I cannot understand why the issue has not been dealt with previously. Organisations with charitable status have made presentations seeking to have laws changed, for example, organisations like Womens Aid and other different organisations. These organisations need laws changed so as to be able to help women who are suffering. They are involved in the protection of human rights of these women. Therefore, there is an anomaly here.

It must be exhausting for organisations to try to separate what they can do under charitable status from what they can do without it so as not to cross over between the two areas. That must be exhausting. I had an idea about what needs to be done. If we look at what has been done in the United Kingdom, in Scotland, Wales, England and Northern Ireland, it is clear they have managed to deal with this issue without the world collapsing. It is high time we did the same. This committee and its rapporteur will make recommendations to the Minister for Justice and Equality and to Revenue in regard to how we can make progress on this. The situation is a joke as it stands.

I thank the witnesses for coming in and explaining the situation to us in plain language.