Ms Eilis Murray:

On the question about the marginal tax rate in the US, I do not have that information to hand and will get back to the Deputy on that. I suppose one of the reasons is we have a belief that the US system of philanthropy is quite unique to that country. It is a different model and the US has a different social system, etc. All that comes back to why we are saying that for the Irish model we need to look at what is appropriate for our system and that is what is important for the White Paper.

The Deputy asked about anything above €250 going back to the cause to which the donor has donated. Yes, the incentive works well for a large number of organisations and they get a lot back from that. In 2018, we conducted research on the system which showed that a very low number of community organisations and not-for-profits availed of the incentive. There is a number of them and there is a lot in it to actually avail of the incentive. The process is straightforward once organisations get involved. Nonetheless, almost 70% of organisations had not availed of the incentive in 2018 and that is a big gap. Equally, at the time the incentive was introduced and the change was taking place, it was intended that alongside that there would be another tax change for designated vehicles that was capped at €1 million. That did not happen and created a gap of stimulating the larger amounts and bringing those other amounts into the space. These are all things that we need to discuss. I would question why there is a €250 limit for the incentive. New Zealand is the only other country in the world that has a limit on how much can be claimed and it is $5 in New Zealand dollars. Let us say I can give €200, according to my means, and Ms Hennessy can give €250, why does the cause that she is donating to get a tax break while my cause does not? Many questions about the scheme need to be answered.

I agree 100% with the Deputy that we should not become dependent on philanthropy. If we consider the amount of funding that is going into the space, regarding the amount into the not-for-profit sector and civil society, philanthropy accounts for way less than 10% of the overall funding so we are not close to even reaching an influential mark. I am not saying that that may not occur but this is why regulation, transparency, etc. are incredibly important.

The Deputy asked whether funding goes to attractive organisations or other places. We have loads of examples of philanthropy really dealing with the harder to go to places. The St. Stephen's Green Trust, for example, is an ardent supporter of prisoners, Travellers, etc. There are lots of examples. It spans so many areas of support. One of the things organisations do, certainly ours does, is to try to base their decision on evidence and see where there is a need. Yes, for anybody who is giving, and we all give in different ways, there is an emotive part of that. It is what you know or it is something that has been asked of you and that is a huge thing. Many donors will say they were never asked. If a person has had a life experience or has a particular interest then that is likely to be the first port of call but any donation will be based on evidence of a particular need. Many of our members carry out a lot of research on where gaps exist and what areas do not receive funding, and then assess whether they can attract funding to those spaces.