Marc Ó Cathasaigh (Waterford, Green Party)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I echo Deputy Paul Donnelly's comments. There is a huge amount in the Bill that is welcome. The Minister of State used the word "proportionate" a lot in his opening statement. It is important to acknowledge that many small charities make vital contributions and do important work within communities. The regulatory burden that is placed upon them is extremely onerous. We all know of several charities that spend a lot of their time dealing with paperwork rather than the work they want to be doing. The Bill goes some way towards finding the necessary balance in that. The issue of transparency is vital. We all know of charities that have failed the transparency test in one way or another and the implications for fundraising across charities, generally, is impacted by that. If the reputation of one charity is damaged, it affects all charities across the board.

I have two general questions, the first being on financial thresholds for reporting. It was said that the small charities will not have the same reporting responsibilities as the bigger charities will have. How will those thresholds be set out and how will they be tracked over time, because we want legislation that will last?

I am interested in the point raised about third level. Deputy Conway Walsh will know that transparency in funding in third level is an area I introduced amendments on in the Higher Education Authority, HEA, Bill.

This seems like a very welcome piece of work in order to bring more oversight and more transparency to third level funding, but perhaps the Minister of State could tease out in a little more detail for me how that will work within the Bill.