Ivana Bacik (Independent)

I want to speak on this group of amendments. My amendment is No. 14, but clearly amendments Nos. 9, 11, 14, 15 and 16 all seek to do the same thing, which is to place as one of the charitable purposes in section 3(10) the advancement or promotion of human rights. It is an important principle that a purpose that is of benefit to the community should include the advancement of human rights. My suggested way of doing this would be to insert a few words into paragraph (e) of subsection (10) so that it reads "the advancement of human rights, conflict resolution or reconciliation". A number of charitable bodies, and indeed the human rights committee of the Law Society, have recommended that this amendment be made and that the advancement or promotion of human rights be included as a specified purpose beneficial to the community. There are some very good reasons for this.

The Minister of State may say it is unnecessary or that the purposes included in the Bill are sufficient to deal with those charities that work for the advancement of human rights, but it is important to state that explicitly. The Minister of State may also say that section 40 already provides for exemptions in respect of charities that were already entitled to exemptions before the commencement of the Act and where the Revenue Commissioners have issued a number for the exemption. However, the human rights committee of the Law Society has said that this would not be sufficiently inclusive. The problem is that notwithstanding the fact that an existing charity engaged in human rights activities might already be deemed registered, such an organisation might in the future be held to be an excluded body and therefore be excluded as a charitable organisation. The human rights committee — I am sure the Minister of State has seen its recommendations — has suggested that it would be better to include a specific reference to the advancement or promotion of human rights.

In addition, as the committee pointed out, this is a statutory purpose that is specifically provided for in the equivalent legislation in England and Wales and indeed in Scotland, where the description of charitable purposes includes the advancement of human rights, conflict resolution or reconciliation. I understand there is an equivalent protection for the advancement of human rights in Northern Ireland. Considering our obligations under the Belfast Agreement, we should have an equivalence of protection for human rights. For all those reasons it is important that we include a specific reference to this charitable purpose in the Bill.

If the Minister of State is not minded to at least consider the inclusion of this purpose, he might tell us why it is being specifically excluded from the legislation. Is it that the Attorney General, for example, has advised that it should not be included? Given that it is included in equivalent legislation in neighbouring jurisdictions, we need a reason from the Minister of State rather than the all-purpose line that it is unnecessary. For the reasons I have outlined, for those given in the very considered advice of the Law Society human rights committee and for the reasons which, I have no doubt, other colleagues will give, it is important that the Minister at least consider inserting the words "the advancement of human rights, conflict resolution or reconciliation" in the definition of a charitable purpose that is of benefit to the community in section 3(10).