John Curran (Dublin Mid West, Fianna Fail)

The Bill is designed to enhance the security of both cash and non-cash collections and thus bolster public confidence. To this end, the Bill provided that cash collectors must use a sealed box. This was intended to address the open bucket method, which can give rise to concerns about the security of the collection. However, this gives rise to concerns in the charity sector that were reflected in the Seanad debate. The concern was that the provision did not accommodate collectors giving change to donors where fixed price tokens were sold. Deputy Ring raised this matter late in the debate and I assured him we would try to deal with it. He mentioned Daffodil Day and other collections. It got a further airing in the Seanad and these amendments are the response.

While the Bill is intended to enhance security, it is not intended to unduly hinder collectors or to discourage potential donors from purchasing a token because the collector could not provide change. The approach needed was to allow for exceptions to be made to the sealed box rule without compromising the general principle behind it. I took legal advice on the issue and Seanad amendment No. 70 will allow the authority some discretion in applying the sealed box provision, which is the principle behind these amendments.

With regard to Seanad amendments Nos. 71 and 72, I propose to amend, on the basis of legal advice, the original Government amendment that was made to this subsection in the Seanad. The Street and House to House Collections Act 1962 applies to collections undertaken by both charities and non-charities. In framing amendments relating to collections by charities, it is important that we do not impose obligations on non-charities that they cannot meet. Under the original amendment made in the Seanad, even non-charities would have been required to have their registered number on their collection boxes. However, as only registered charities will be allocated a registered number by the new authority, it would have been impossible for non-charities to meet such a legal requirement. On the basis of legal advice, therefore, I am removing this obligation in the case of non-charities, although they will still be required to have their name displayed on collection boxes.

In addition, the Bill currently provides that charities are required to display the charitable purpose for which the collection is being held on the charity collection boxes and on garments worn by non-cash charity collectors. The sector made representations to the effect that were the charitable purposes to change, for example, were a charity to hold a collection in respect of a natural disaster in one country followed by another collection in respect of another disaster in another country, under the Bill as currently drafted the charity would have to purchase new garments or collection boxes which would give rise to additional costs. I do not wish to impose any additional compliance costs on charities where these can be avoided. The revised amendment No. 71 and amendment No. 72, therefore, remove the requirement to show the name of the particular charitable purpose for which the collection is being held on the charity collection boxes and on garments worn by non-cash charities' collectors respectively, although charities will be still required to display their name and their registered number.

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