John Curran (Dublin Mid West, Fianna Fail)

I move amendment No. 35:

In page 28, to delete lines 9 to 11 and substitute the following:

"(6) Subject to subsections (7), (9) and (10) and section 39, the Authority may, as soon as practicable after it receives an application in accordance with this section, grant the application and enter in the register—".

Government amendments Nos. 35, 39 and 40 are required for the removal of any doubt that only charitable organisations shall be entered onto the register of charities. Under the existing wording of the Bill, a possible interpretation could be taken that, once an organisation applies in the correct manner, it could be registered irrespective of whether it was charitable or not. These amendments remove any potential for non-charities to be entered onto the register.

Amendment No. 35 clarifies that an organisation may only be entered onto the register when certain conditions have been satisfied. Amendment No. 39 provides that the charity will only stand registered when the authority has performed its statutory functions under this subsection. Amendment No. 40 provides explicitly that applications from non-charities must be refused. It also requires the authority to notify applicants as to whether their application has been successful and of the right of appeal against a refusal to register by the authority.

Deputy Wall's amendment, No. 36, proposes to impose a set deadline on the authority making a determination to the charitable status of an organisation. It is too restrictive. The authority would be potentially subject to applications from across the EEA and beyond. While the authority would be required to expedite its business in a professional manner, there may be valid reasons an application might not proceed within the two months, for example, where additional information is requested and must be obtained from a charity based outside the jurisdiction. I expect most applications will be considered within a two-month period but the priority is that the authority be allowed adequate time to make the right decision and not be forced to make a premature one because of a statutory time limit. Therefore, I cannot accept amendment No. 36.

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