John Curran (Dublin Mid West, Fianna Fail)

The Deputy is correct that the purpose of the Bill is to maintain the status quo. As at present with regard to the Revenue Commissioners, human rights per se is not recognised as a charitable purpose yet organisations like Amnesty International are registered and will automatically be deemed to be registered with the new authority.

The central point is that this legislation was drawn up to mirror and maintain the status quo. I am conscious of the fact that this in itself was a substantial piece of work. There is the second aspect that there would be a mandatory review within five years because there is a very significant job to do.

To return to the point made by Deputy Ring on education, it is not that those bodies are not reporting to the charity authority but that they are reporting to other authorities and some of them may even be accountable to bodies like the Committee of Public Accounts. Even with that in mind, the authority is still entitled to request any additional information it may subsequently deem appropriate. However, those educational institutions, because they are already reporting, will not have an onus to have those accounts published with the authority.

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