Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael)

I am disappointed the Minister will not accept my amendment. The reason I tabled this amendment is the concern among the general public about the charities to which they are subscribing. I wished to ensure the transparency, correctness and openness of any organisation with charitable status. We need to clarify what salaries are being paid by charities to their directors, identify whether organisations are acting on a voluntary or a commercial basis, and ensure that if there are changes in status they are notified to the regulator. People are concerned that some organisations are more businesses than charities and that the charities get very little money from the revenue collected, which goes to pay directors or people collecting on behalf of the charity. That is why I was hoping the Minister would accept my amendment. In this way, at the end of every year we would know what is paid to every director. We want to know about bonuses, salaries and expenses, and how much money is going to the charity itself. I am concerned about this.

Since this Bill was introduced the Minister has agreed to consider many of the concerns expressed by Members on this side of the House, although the Labour Party Members are not here currently, both when the Bill was introduced and on Committee Stage, and he has done so. The Minister brought the Bill to the Seanad and dealt with many of these concerns. I was hoping he would accept this amendment as we want people out there to know that the money collected is going to a charity rather than towards large salaries.

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