Brian O'Shea (Waterford, Labour)

As the Minister of State is aware, in the published list of Government legislation, it states in regard to charity legislation that it is not possible to indicate a date for publication. I recently asked the Tánaiste if this meant the legislation had been abandoned. While the Minister of State has indicated that it will be produced, my major concern is that the Government will go out of office and we will not even see the legislation.

Fifty leaders of community and voluntary organisations were advised at a recent seminar they attended that because of the slowness of the Government in coming up with the legislation, they would have to look to their own governance. One issue that arose is that there is no proper definition of "charity", "charitable organisation", "not-for-profit organisation", or "non-governmental organisation". Speculation again appeared in the media during the period of the recent bombings in London indicating that charities can be used for terrorist purposes. It was stated that the method of fundraising could be as simple as welfare fraud. Is the Minister of State satisfied that this is definitely not happening in the sector in Ireland?

How convinced is the Minister of State that we will see this legislation, bearing in mind that the heads of the Bill have not yet been produced. This will be major legislation. Is the Government just putting a brave face on it while knowing in its heart of hearts that we will not see this legislation, badly needed as it is to regulate a sector that has been crying out for regulation for quite some time? This is not to minimise or underestimate in any way the difficulties involved. My concern is that the matter has dragged on, yet the legislation has failed to come forward with only vague assurances that it will be produced.

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