Results 1,141-1,160 of 6,728 for speaker:John Curran

Charities Bill 2007: From the Seanad (11 Feb 2009)

John Curran: I thank Deputies for their support.

Charities Bill 2007: From the Seanad (11 Feb 2009)

John Curran: This grouping includes drafting amendments proposed on the basis of legal advice and are essentially for presentational purposes. Amendment No. 7 is a drafting amendment only, removing text considered to be superfluous. Instead of stating what is "regarded as being" a charitable purpose the revised wording explicitly refers to what "will" be a charitable purpose. Amendment No. 39 is purely...

Charities Bill 2007: From the Seanad (11 Feb 2009)

John Curran: This group relates to the issue of public benefit. Amendments Nos. 8 and 9 are similar in that they remove some text that on reflection was considered to be unnecessary. My advice was that a purpose is either charitable or not and that the use of the phrase "regarded as a charitable purpose" was not required in legal terms. In respect of amendment No. 10, since the earlier debates on this...

Charities Bill 2007: From the Seanad (11 Feb 2009)

John Curran: I thought Deputy Ring was going to open a whole other subject.

Charities Bill 2007: From the Seanad (11 Feb 2009)

John Curran: Deputy Ring is right to mention dubious religious organisations and their adverse effect. There may well be other avenues by which to deal with them but following the Opposition suggestions, I was adamant that there would be no refuge for them in this legislation. There may be other things to do but in regard to this Bill I was happy to be able to respond in particular to Deputy Wall's...

Charities Bill 2007: From the Seanad (11 Feb 2009)

John Curran: This is a technical amendment inserted on legal advice. The Bill has always separated the decisions of the new Charities Regulatory Authority from those of the Revenue Commissioners in respect of tax matters. It is not appropriate for the new authority to have any role in respect of tax matters which are the domain of the Minister for Finance and the Revenue Commissioners alone. Every...

Charities Bill 2007: From the Seanad (11 Feb 2009)

John Curran: Existing charities are registered with the Revenue Commissioners and will automatically be deemed as such by the authority. From thereon the independence of Revenue is maintained throughout this legislation.

Charities Bill 2007: From the Seanad (11 Feb 2009)

John Curran: Technically that could happen but the independence of each organisation is maintained.

Charities Bill 2007: From the Seanad (Resumed) (11 Feb 2009)

John Curran: On Report Stage in Dáil Éireann I introduced an amendment that was developed to offset a possible risk that the Bill, as previously worded, might act as a significant impediment to convention securitisation activities in Ireland. Following further interdepartmental consultation and discussions with legal advices since then, it was decided during the passage of the Bill through the Seanad...

Charities Bill 2007: From the Seanad (Resumed) (11 Feb 2009)

John Curran: The grouping includes amendments that relate to the new register of charities. It is recognised that the establishment and maintenance of the register will give rise to costs. The purpose of amendment No. 13 is to allow greater flexibility in the future in terms of maintaining the register of charities. The amendment specifically seeks to give the authority, when directed by the Minister,...

Charities Bill 2007: From the Seanad (Resumed) (11 Feb 2009)

John Curran: If a GuideStar were to be established in Ireland with public funding this amendment is merely an enabling provision that would allow a direction to the authority. In current times there is no guarantee that such a situation will occur but it would be remiss of us not to take the opportunity to include it in the primary legislation.

Charities Bill 2007: From the Seanad (Resumed) (11 Feb 2009)

John Curran: Amendments Nos. 14, 15 and 50 are very similar and are inserted on the basis of legal advice. They propose to use the word "enactment", which encompasses a wider range of legal provisions than the current word "statute".

Charities Bill 2007: From the Seanad (Resumed) (11 Feb 2009)

John Curran: More or less. In one sense the Deputy has jumped ahead slightly to the next amendment which gives more detail on the grounds on which they might be removed. Seanad amendment No. 32 is to specify that the body must be notified in writing. The next Seanad amendment No. 32 relates more specifically to the point Deputy Ring is raising.

Charities Bill 2007: From the Seanad (Resumed) (11 Feb 2009)

John Curran: Yes. The tribunal may make binding recommendations to the authority or the appellant.

Charities Bill 2007: From the Seanad (Resumed) (11 Feb 2009)

John Curran: Absolutely.

Charities Bill 2007: From the Seanad (Resumed) (11 Feb 2009)

John Curran: This group of technical amendments relates to the audit provisions. Amendments Nos. 41 and 42 are linked. They effect no substantive change to the provision. The reference to subsection (3) is simply being moved within the subsection. This subsection provides that even though a charity may be below the audit threshold designated by the Minister, the authority may direct the charity to...

Charities Bill 2007: From the Seanad (Resumed) (11 Feb 2009)

John Curran: Amendments Nos. 48 and 49 as passed by the Seanad, which I am putting before the Dáil today, allow the Minister to prescribe the information to be included in annual reports submitted by charities and set out in more detail what the Minister may prescribe under the regulations in this regard. These amendments already passed by the Seanad provide sufficient flexibility and control with...

Charities Bill 2007: From the Seanad (Resumed) (11 Feb 2009)

John Curran: I agree with the sentiments of the Deputy. However, I was conscious of the fact that not all charities are fully voluntary and that some have paid professionals. I take the point made by the Deputy. If the charitable purpose of an organisation changes there is an onus on it to make those known to the authority. Amendment No. 49 provides for the Minister to prescribe the information to be...

Charities Bill 2007: From the Seanad (Resumed) (11 Feb 2009)

John Curran: These are essentially presentational amendments consequential upon each other. They did not change the subsection in any substantive fashion. It will still be an offence for a charity trustee or employee to comply with a direction from a person not qualified to act as a charity trustee unless the person has reasonable grounds for not knowing that the person was not so qualified.

Charities Bill 2007: From the Seanad (Resumed) (11 Feb 2009)

John Curran: The matter of the position of auditors of charities was raised by Senator O'Toole in the Seanad and Deputy Ciarán Lynch in the House on Report Stage. The concerns were that the Bill would allow charity trustees to audit their charities. This was not the Government's intention. Instead, the aim was to ensure that where independent auditors of charities were party to offences that such...