Joe O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

The Department of Public Expenditure and Reform has provided grant funding to Benefacts since 2015. My Department has had no funding relationship with Benefacts. I understand the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform undertook a review in 2020 that found that the business case for its continued funding of Benefacts was no longer justified. Accordingly, the decision was made to terminate its funding.

In respect of the reference by the Deputy to new regulations by the Charities Regulator, I want to take this opportunity to clarify that there is no direct connection between the work underway by the regulator and the services previously provided by Benefacts. The regulator is in the process of developing a classification standard for registered charities. Classification is a way of ordering charitable organisations by reference to predefined groups and sub-groups. The standard will be comparable with classification standards in other jurisdictions, enabling international comparisons to be made. It also takes account of the charitable purposes set out in the Charities Act 2009, which form the basis for registration as a charitable organisation.

The introduction of a formal standard by the regulator will provide more reliable and consistent data on the make-up of the charity sector and will benefit a wide range of stakeholders, helping to inform policymaking in relevant areas.

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