Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael)

I appeal to the Minister to be wary of putting too many regulators in place. People are concerned about the appointment of regulators with no powers and who are not answerable to the House. That is the one thing that concerns me. I had great difficulty convincing my party that we need another regulator because we are opposed to having too many regulators. I urge the Minister even at this stage to use an existing regulator rather than appointing a new regulator for this purpose. I would prefer if the Department took on the role.

If charities find themselves in difficulty, I urge the Minister to ensure the regulator does not overstep his or her role. That is not the purpose of the regulator. His or her purpose is to regulate charities and ensure they do the job they were set up to do. I tabled the amendment because it is not the job of the regulator to try to run the business of charities on a day to day basis. I will withdraw the amendment on the basis that the Minister will give me a commitment that the regulator's job is to regulate charities to ensure they collect money from honest, decent people and that the money goes to charity. The regulator should not tell charities how to do their business and that is the concern charities have.

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