Jerry Buttimer (Fine Gael)

This is a glaring omission. This legislation has been a long time in gestation and reform of the charities sector is long overdue and necessary. I hope it will add to and enhance legislation in this area and, most important, protect those involved in the charities sector. As someone who is involved in sport and charity, I welcome the Bill.

While this legislation will, if passed, introduce stronger regulation, questions still need to be answered. I hope the provisions outlined by the Minister of State will not be as draconian as they appear. While those involved in the charity sector broadly support the Bill, they have reservations and seek clarity.

I pay tribute to paid officials and volunteers of charitable organisations and those engaged in charitable activity across the country. The thousands of charitable organisations which hold flag day and church gate collections do immense work and deserve great praise. I hope the Bill will enhance their work. Fund-raising, as the Minister of State has indicated, has changed considerably, but the needs of charitable organisations and those who represent them have not, mainly because of the failure of successive Governments to look after them and because of the manner in which society has evolved. The role of a regulator must be to provide help and assistance for those involved. While there must be transparency and accountability, there needs to be advice and a consensual approach from the regulator, not a "Big Brother" overseeing matters. I know from talking to the Minister of State that this is not his wish either.

Fine Gael will adopt a consensual approach to the Bill, but we shall make known our reservations and reserve the right to table amendments on Committee Stage. The regulation of the charities sector will create a regulatory framework within which charities may operate. There is no doubt, from talking to various organisations, that this will transform the sector which, as the Minister of State indicated, has been largely unregulated. I mentioned transparency and accountability and charitable organisations need to adhere to these objectives, for the sake of the bodies themselves and the people with whom they work. The establishment of a charities regulator will bring about change. This must not mean, however, that fees or large amounts are levied on charitable organisations which will now be protected from rogue operators. It is accepted that existing structures need to be strengthened and we need to monitor and regulate charities.

I know from personal experience that many charities aspire to high standards of fund-raising and they will welcome the changes outlined in the Bill. However, there is some concern that the extra layer of structural regulation will involve a compliance cost factor. I hope that will be examined and that excessive fees will not be the result. Controls on fund-raising are overdue. We are all aware of flag days and church gate collections for different charitable events that are largely unchecked. There is, however, one issue that needs to be addressed in the Bill, under section 91, which deals with the duties of collectors. I understand the premise here is based on creating public confidence, instilling accountability and the tightness of control.

The Irish Cancer Society, to take one organisation, hosts a national daffodil day. Under the Bill before the House collectors for that organisation must have a sealed box to collect the money. I have spent many a Friday collecting for this organisation, as have many of my friends. A fee is charged for the daffodil emblem, the daffodil or the lapel pin. However, under the legislation, as proposed, this daffodil day cannot continue, which poses a problem for the Irish Cancer Society. I am merely giving this as an example. The society takes in an inordinate amount of money on that fund-raising day, but that must now stop, according to the Bill as it is currently constituted. That is wrong. If a person has only €1, he or she cannot buy a daffodil that might cost €2. Collectors cannot be given a float by the charity concerned, which has thousands of collection points across the country on a particular day. That difficulty needs to be addressed on Committee Stage.

I know the Minister of State does not intend to thwart the efforts of that or other similar charities and I hope we can come up with a way to have a national collection day with, perhaps, the regulator nominating a particular day for a specific charity. Other charities that offer items that people may buy, such as the Irish Kidney Association and the ISPCC — with its holly day — will be similarly affected.

In my opening remarks I mentioned the promotion of human rights. There has been a reluctance to include this issue in the Bill and I am not sure why. I was hoping the Minister of State would accept that organisations that promote and advance human rights should be included, under section 3, which sets out clearly what constitutes the purpose of benefit to the community. Surely the advancement of human rights falls into that category. In England, Scotland and Wales the advancement of human rights is inserted in the charities legislation. The Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005 and the Charities Act for England and Wales, both include the advancement of human rights and the promotion and advancement of equality and diversity as provisions under charitable purposes status. Why can this not be done here?

An amendment could be inserted under section 3(10), as the Minister of State did in the other House, under the heading of environmental sustainability. Perhaps the Greens were more worried about the environment than about human rights. I do not know and I am not saying that, but——-