Trevor Sargent (Dublin North, Green Party)

That itself would be interesting. We might learn something about the official Fianna Fáil view at the time regarding what constituted charitable work and charitable giving. At the moment we are discussing how to dispense money, but we do not have the regulations in place. I hope we can put the horse back in front of the cart and put legislation in place. The expected publication of the charities regulation Bill, about which I have asked repeatedly in this House, is 2005. Its purpose is to regulate charities to ensure accountability and to protect against abuse of charitable status and fraud. It could be nick-named the mañana Bill because it has been going from year to year. There is no basis for believing that it will be published in 2005 even though that date is stated in black and white.

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