John Curran (Dublin Mid West, Fianna Fail)

While it is unlikely that there are many, if any, single trustee charities, on the basis of legal advice, amendment No. 2 amends the definition of "body" to cater for such a scenario. Amendment No. 12 is purely technical. The text to be removed is not considered necessary, based on legal advice. Amendments Nos. 22, 23 and 34 are very similar and propose the use of the word "enactment" which has a broader legal meaning than the current word "statute". Amendment No. 26 is a drafting amendment to insert the word "and" after "1977" to link paragraphs (a) and (b). Amendment No. 36 changes the reference in section 70(1)(b) from the "Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment" to the "Director of Corporate Enforcement" as section 14 of the Company Law Enforcement Act 2001 transferred responsibility from the Minister to the director.

I commend amendments Nos. 2, 12, 22, 23, 26, 34 and 36, but I cannot accept amendment No. 52. Section 94 provides a reserve power for the Minister to regulate the manner and the conduct of fundraising. My Department has been working in partnership with the sector over the past two years to develop non-statutory codes of practice for charitable fundraising. The principles for these codes of good practice have been published and discussions are taking place at present regarding the implementation and monitoring of the codes. It is intended that the reserve powers of the Minister to bring in a statutory regulation would only be invoked if the non-statutory codes of practice prove ineffective. It would be totally contrary to this consultative approach to compel the Minister to introduce statutory codes of practice which would be the effect of accepting amendment No. 52. In that context, I cannot accept the amendment.