Paul Donnelly (Dublin West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

On head 7, the new section 29(6)(b) relates to the power of the charities regulator to withdraw the application for charitable status if they deem some documentation not to have been presented to the charities regulator. There is a feeling that while there may be some documentation that needs clarification or might need to be submitted, to remove the charity from the register for something that could be quite minor seems to be very blunt instrument.

Head 7, which contains the new section 39(b), relates to the power of the charity regulator to impose conditions. The type and scope of those conditions is unclear.

The penalties can be quite severe, including rejection or withdrawal of charitable status. I wish to tease out what those conditions would be.

Section 39(11b) is a new legal obligation that a charity shall not amend its constitution without prior approval of the Charities Regulator. For those involved in charities, making small or minor changes to a constitution does not change the concept of what they do, but it may change small aspects of it. I am not sure how that will work in reality if a charity has to contact the Charities Regulator every single time a minor amendment is made to its constitution. It could be quite onerous again. We should bear in mind that a lot of these boards are made up of voluntary members and people who have full-time jobs. We should be making it easy for people to sit on boards and be involved.

Head 8, section 40 introduces a requirement to notify the Charities Regulator of certain information forthwith. Some people found the term "forthwith" to be insufficiently precise and, again, unduly onerous. It was considered reasonable to specify the number of days. If the Charities Regulator can remove a charity in some cases without recourse to appeal, it is important that whatever the Charities Regulator asks for is specified so that people know what the consequences will be for them.

Head 9, section 43(2) and (2b) refer to the removal of a charity from the register. There is huge concern that there will be a wide range of powers to remove a charitable trust from the register for relatively minor issues, which could have a catastrophic effect both on the boards of trustees and the services that charities provide, some of which are essential health services. People understand that it is probably not the intention of the Bill to do that, but the intentions and the workings of the Bill could be two different things. Some of these services, such as those provided by the Irish Wheelchair Association and others, provide essential services. If someone is removed from the register for something he or she deems relatively minor, it could have a catastrophic effect on the charity itself because people's perception of the charity would be that there is something odd going on here. There is a feeling that it is not really the intention of the Bill, but it could be the effect.

Section 43(4A) also relates to reasons a charitable trust could be removed from the register and the provisions that a charity proposing to wind up its activities should communicate this to the Charities Regulator, which I do not have an issue with. There are about seven sections on this most of which are relatively minor. If a charity is proposing to wind up, it is reasonable and logical that it would have to inform the Charities Regulator. I have no major issue with that.