Noel Ahern (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail)

I propose to take Questions Nos. 91, 95 and 104 together.

Evidence suggests that the majority of charities in Ireland operate for the public good. However, it is vital for public trust and confidence in the sector to be safeguarded and maintained. Clearly, the lack of a regulatory regime leaves the sector vulnerable to abuses.

In An Agreed Programme for Government, there is a clear commitment to regulation of the charities sector through the enactment of a comprehensive reform of charity law to ensure accountability and to protect against abuse of charitable status and fraud. The new legislation will introduce an integrated system of mandatory registration, proportionate regulation and supervision. The independent regulatory body, to be positioned as the centrepiece of the regulatory regime, will be charged with setting up and maintaining a register of charities.

The proposed content of the new legislation has been the subject of an inclusive, public consultation process, first, in 2004, on the core legislative proposals and then, in 2005, on the specialist aspect of charitable trust law reform. I have already publicly signalled spring-early summer 2006 as our target for publication of the Bill and my Department continues to give priority to the work of advancing this important legislation. I take this opportunity to emphasise that, in addition to statutory regulation, informed and vigilant charity trustees have a crucially important role to play in the general control and management of the administration of their charities.

See this speech in context