Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I was involved in introducing the legislation for a charities regulator. The big charities needed it. They are professionals, with offices and staff but I was concerned from the beginning about killing volunteerism at the small level.

It is making it very hard for people to continue. The level of compliance required at the small level, where there might be a small charity in a local area where everybody knows what is happening anyway, appears to be the same as what is required for a major national charity that would be handling millions and where international elements could be involved as well. Does the committee need to examine this again and, if necessary, amend the legislation to provide for de minimis, as I call it? In other words, it would provide that under a certain level the requirements would be minimal. I believe that corporate governance is beginning to become more important than delivery in this country. We have all been involved in the local scene where €10,000 or €15,000 is collected for somebody who has had a bad time or whose house burned down or whatever. A small committee goes around and collects the money. All the locals know how much was collected, where it went and so forth. Now, however, one would need a professional office to keep the governance of this type of thing going.

I am concerned that we are strangling volunteerism. As somebody who has been very involved in voluntary action over the years and who has family members involved in voluntary committees, I believe the burden on the small local group is becoming crazy. Does the Minister think this is something it would be worthwhile for this committee to examine, so the burden is proportionate to the risk? The risk is in two areas. One is that a large amount of money could be defrauded. The other is that the more anonymous the charity is and the more it is operating in a big atmosphere, the less the local old-fashioned control is exerted whereby the people know what is happening. Should we investigate what effect it is having on volunteering, people serving on committees and so forth? It appears to me that there are 2,100 regulations for everything now, and I am not sure the world is a much better place. The big boys will always find a way to cheat and the small people are paying the price.