John Curran (Dublin Mid West, Fianna Fail)

I move amendment No. 85:

In page 58, between lines 13 and 14, to insert the following:

"83.—A charitable organisation may enter into an agreement with a charity trustee of the charitable organisation for the payment by the charitable organisation to the insurer under a contract of insurance of such sums as the charity trustee undertakes, in accordance with that contract, to pay to the insurer in consideration of the insurer agreeing to indemnify the charity trustee in respect of any liability of the charity trustee to pay any damages or other sum to a person in respect of any act done or omitted to be done by the charity trustee in good faith and in the performance of his or her functions as charity trustee.".

Charity trustees are potentially personally liable for any losses accruing to the charity as a consequence of the performance of their duties. This leaves voluntary charitable trustees exposed to an unreasonable personal risk. I am conscious of the difficulties that charities can have in attracting trustees and I imagine that a situation where a trustee is personally liable for losses incurred by a charity as a consequence of a genuine error does not serve to encourage people to take on the role of trustee. I wish to remove that obstacle and thus I move this amendment, which will allow charitable trustees, with the agreement of the charity, to arrange for the purchase of indemnity assurance out of the charity funds where they are satisfied that it would be in the best interests of the charity to do so.

The provisions relating to the purchase of indemnity assurance contain safeguards to prevent abuse of power. The trustee must always act in good faith and in the best interests of the charity. This amendment will be broadly welcomed by charities and trustees. It will be a source of reassurance to charity trustees and to potential charity trustees.

See this speech in context