Mr. Patrick O'Connor:

That is a very interesting comment and question. There are approximately 7,900 charities registered with the regulator, arising from the original approximately 8,500 bodies that had charitable status with the Revenue Commissioners. Since then, approximately 600 have dropped out. They are all deemed to be registered charities so unless the charity itself wishes to cease to be registered or there are other reasons, that will not change. The Deputy's question would apply to prospective charities, that is, those which have not yet been established. It is very important that all charities when presenting a case to the regulator actually set out what they intend to do and make sure that they comply with the overall scheme of what it is to be a charity, the purpose of it and to make sure there is a public benefit to it. I suspect, without naming any charities, that in the past there was a very general view taken that one could set up a body to help a few people in a local community and that could be regarded as a charity. One then simply went to the Revenue Commissioners and got a charity number. That will not apply, as I understand it, going forward and rightly so. Otherwise, we will not have a properly regulated sector.

Those who set up charities to provide or to help do so out of goodwill but there is an onus on them to make sure that they are doing it properly, have proper objectives and that the powers of the charity are set out correctly.