John Curran (Dublin Mid West, Fianna Fail)

I agree with my colleagues in that we are all trying to address the same issue. While I will not dwell on it or the slight difference in opinions, I will make some specific points. The wording to which Deputy Higgins referred is derived from the Charities Act. The Government amendments are my efforts to deal with a specific problem.

It is important to bear in mind that we must strike a balance between supporting current charities without making the legislation overly cumbersome. Given that the majority of religious activities are charitable in nature, we must be careful not to place them under unnecessary burdens while protecting people from cults and so forth. We have seen to this in the rebuttable presumption of public benefit. It is open to the authority to challenge a religion on these grounds.

The issue is of concern to this side of the House as much as it is to my colleagues on the opposite side. Without going through the amendments' contents, the wording is a balance to ensure that life for existing religions is not made too difficult. We will press the two amendments.

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