Mr. Ivan Cooper:

There are several areas where significant concerns have arisen in relation to the proposed provisions. In addition, some of the proposals could overload the Charities Regulatory Authority with an unwieldy administrative burden, producing limited regulatory value and, in any event, it would not be possible without providing substantial additional resources. We agree with the Minister of State, Deputy Joe O’Brien, when he says that it is important that the legislation “strikes the right balance between proportionate regulation and governance, ensuring that a reasonable and fair approach is at its core”. In its present form, this draft legislation does not fully support this objective.

We have named the top five issues which could adversely affect charities in their day-to-day work and our sector’s ability to recruit and retain trustees to our boards, without whom charities cannot function. First, the proposed extension of very significant additional powers of direction and sanction to the Charities Regulator; in particular the disproportionate power to deregister charities for a range of minor non-compliances. Second, insufficiently strong appeals processes and insufficient recognition of potential reputational damage to charities occurring prior to any finding of fact during an investigation. Third, the unreasonable and likely unworkable requirement for charities to inform the Charities Regulator of “significant events”, where “significant” is not sufficiently defined, which have or might in future negatively impact the charity. Fourth, the impact of the perceived or felt increase in the responsibilities of charities trustees, accepting that the proposed definition of the duties of charities trustees merely codifies what is already there in common law, the perceived focusing of responsibility on individual charities trustees rather than on the body corporate or the board collectively and the effect these perceptions may have on deterring people from volunteering to be trustees. Fifth, the unworkable requirement for any change, however minor, to a charity’s constitution to be approved in advance by the Charities Regulator.

Ms Murphy will provide a summary of these provisions and others.