Noel Ahern (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail)

Yes. The programme for Government includes a provision for a totally new regime for charities. I am pleased this was included because the relevant legislation has been in force for more than 40 years. Since the 1990s, three reports have been drawn up to suggest the action we should take, including those drawn up by the Law Reform Commission and the Minister of State at the Department of Foreign Affairs in 1996, Deputy Burton. Reform of the legislation governing charities is a part of the programme for Government and we are working on this.

I accept concerns exist following the events of 11 September 2001 that charities set up here could be abused. While we have been asked by the UN to consider and update our legislation, we were working on this in any case. There is concern at different levels because the current regime is totally unregulated. The aim is to have compulsory regulation and a regulatory body following up on these groups and controlling what they do. The situation up to now was wide open and anything could happen.

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