Ms Helen Martin:

This was in regard to our interactions with other agencies. The main agency we interact with is Revenue, with which members of our registration team would interact. The Deputy might be aware from our briefing material that 6,500 of the charities on our register are there because they were deemed registered at the date the register was established.

The deeming was related to the fact that on that date, they held a charitable tax exemption so, effectively, they came on to the register. We have over 3,500 others which are what we call section 39 bodies. They are the charities that registered with us. As a result of the fact that we have a huge number of section 40 bodies, the ones that are deemed registered, we would deal with Revenue a lot. Where a section 40 charity that has been deemed registered loses its charitable tax exemption through the operation of the Act, it automatically comes off the register. We have no input into that decision. Once a charity loses its tax exemption, it comes off the register and must try to re-register. That is why we interact regularly with Revenue.

In addition, we would be in contact with the Companies Registration Office regarding our IT platform and the fact that we would draw down certain materials from its website regarding the accounts of those charities that are companies. Our compliance and enforcement team would be in contact with staff from the Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement where particular issues arise, for example, if we were dealing with a company that was not keeping proper books of account. Unfortunately, under our Act at the moment, we would not be able to proceed against such a company for breach of the Charities Act because it is a company and is carved out. That is something we are looking to address under the charities (amendment) Bill because we believe all charities should be equally regulated by the Charities Regulator. It means that in those situations, we have to contact the ODCE because, obviously, it is an offence not to keep proper books of account under the Companies Act. We are reliant on the ODCE to take action in that regard. Similarly, we would have almost daily contact with An Garda Síochána.