Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Tá mé buíoch as an deis labhairt ar an rún seo agus mo thacaíocht agus tacaíocht Shinn Féin a thabhairt dó. Gabhaim mo bhuíochas leis an Teachta Catherine Murphy as ucht an rún seo a chur faoi bhráid na Dála.

Revelations of outlandish spending on the part of the founder and his family at the Console charity have put the misappropriation of funding in the charity sector into sharp focus. This smacks of other recent controversies at Rehab, the Central Remedial Clinic and elsewhere.

There is also a controversy affecting citizens in my constituency at the St. John of God's charity, which operates a range of services and facilities for citizens with disabilities across County Louth. It has been scaling back services on which families rely for some time and since 24 June St. Mary's facility in Drumcar has stopped providing respite care services, and all the while it has been revealed that the charity made exorbitant secret payments to 14 senior executives totalling €2 million. At the same time employees earning less than €35,000 had their wages cut under the Government's financial emergency measures in the public interest, FEMPI, legislation. This is a charity in receipt of annual funding of €130 million that has signed a service agreement it "shall not pay or subsidise salaries, expenses or other prerequisites which exceed those normally paid within the public sector". Yet it appears that it deliberately set out covertly to break the pay cap rules relating to section 38 organisations.

The HSE, for its part, has failed to deliver proper oversight and due diligence, even in the face of ongoing scandals, in the charity sector. I note the comments of the Minister for Health, Deputy Simon Harris, in the Dáil that unauthorised salary payments would have to be returned and that this should happen immediately. The Minister should also make a formal complaint to An Garda Síochána. If a poor person steals an item from their local store, they suffer the legal consequences of that action. White collar criminals rarely do. Both Console and St. John of God's should be subject to the full rigours of the law.

There is an onus on the State to provide the proper oversight and accountability to ensure charities operate within parameters that prevent the blatant waste of public moneys and the well-meaning donations of citizens.

I commend the hundreds of thousands of citizens who give freely of their time and their talent to many good charitable causes. Of course, many of these causes should be the responsibility of the State and should not have been hived off to the voluntary or community sector. Molaim an rún seo agus iarraim ar achan Teachta tacú leis.

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