Alan Kelly (Tipperary, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I thank the witnesses for coming in and for their opening statement. I wish them the best of luck in their important work. Given the number of charities, and there are those that come under two lists, that is, those that are registered and those that are not, and given the number of full-time staff in the Charities Regulator is 37.5 whole-time equivalents, does it have enough capacity to do this work? It is a relatively new organisation and has had to develop and get structures in place. While I believe this is a positive thing, and I do not say that regularly, it seems a small number of staff for the work it does, given there are 10,370 registered charities.

The Charities Regulator has had a turnover of senior staff lately. That usually sets off alarm bells here. Ms Martin might explain, so we can clear that up, why the three senior people left.

How often does the Charities Regulator liaise with the Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement, the Revenue Commissioners, the Garda fraud squad, the Data Protection Commissioner and the Companies Registration Office? Will Ms Martin give us a flavour of that in regard to meetings and interactions, what they are about and how often they take place, sharing data, investigations and so on?