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

I move amendment No. 1:

In page 17, line 28, to delete “shall, on the specified date, remove” and substitute “shall remove”.

I am delighted to be here today to commence Report and Final Stages of the Charities (Amendment) Bill 2023 with officials from my Department. The purpose of the Bill is to strengthen the charity sector, ensuring greater transparency, clarity and fairness, which will serve to enhance public confidence in the sector. The charity sector plays a crucial role in connecting the wider public with opportunities to support and improve our communities and society at large. Registered charities play an integral role in the provision of a wide range of services to our communities. Throughout this legislative process, including on Committee Stage, my officials and I have actively engaged with the charities sector to listen and to take on board the observations of a wide number of stakeholders. In acknowledgement of this engagement, I now wish to introduce a number of amendments which will ensure the Bill is fit for purpose.

Amendment No. 1 updates section 11 of the published Bill, which relates to section 40 charities which are deemed to no longer be registered. The published Bill includes a provision in section 11 which requires the Charities Regulator to apply to the High Court for a declaration in order to remove a charity from the register where it is informed by the Revenue Commissioners that the charity is no longer entitled to hold the CHY number. This process could potentially take up to two years. The current process undertaken by the Charities Regulator in this regard is an automatic removal of the charity from the register. The amendment provides that this process will remain in place as seeking a declaration from the High Court would place an unnecessary delay on a procedure which should remain automatic.

Amendment No. 2 will remove the requirement for the Charities Regulator to seek a declaration from the High Court where the Revenue Commissioners have confirmed that the charity is no longer entitled to hold the CHY number. As a consequence, amendment No. 2 updates section 12 of the published Bill, which relates to removal notices in these cases. This amendment clarifies that where the Charities Regulator removes a charity from the register where the charity is no longer entitled to hold the CHY number, the regulator will not be required to serve a removal notice on the charity. The removal of these section 40 organisations by Revenue follows a defined process by Revenue which includes an appeals process. In many cases, these organisations are dormant and their removal serves to update the register. It is open to any organisation whose CHY number has been removed by Revenue to apply to the Charities Regulator for charity status in the normal manner.

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