Mr. John Farrelly:

We will bring out guidance on such matters. For example, is a local cycling club the charity when it is doing a charity run to earn €5,000, or can one define the charity? The guiding principle is that the charities are the registered charities and people can fund-raise for them. We need to think about that. My inclination would be that people can fund-raise for charities but there is an oversight and governance on behalf of the charities to make sure they have streams for that. We need to effect proper guidance in this regard. There are other examples such as when people often get involved in collections and fund-raising for others in their community which is not necessarily of public benefit. It may be of benefit to a young man or woman or child, or it may be a small amount. We need to get that clarity for people. There are many good things that go on that are not necessarily for a charity, and that is important.

The point made about political advocacy is interesting. In the main, political action is precluded but there are a number of organisations that engage in certain activities to further their charitable purpose and objectives. It is about the balance of that. We will be forming a view on that, but if someone goes into a contested space, the regulator has to form a view. It depends on the risk. We must be careful because charities go into these gaps also and they are not the State sector. In Ireland we might have a way of running things, but the charities are not the State sector. They are charities and people are going into that political space. This is one of the things that must be evolved and a view formed on it. If it is deliberately and obviously a political activity, we will intervene and we have intervened already since 16 May and asked some trustees how they came to the view a particular activity as correct.