John Curran (Dublin Mid West, Fianna Fail)

I am glad the Senator has decided to have some private conversations.

Section 46 of the Bill makes it an offence for charitable organisations that are not registered to portray themselves as charities. On Report Stage in the Dáil I strengthened the provision, with a particular focus on the practice of door-to-door collection of second-hand clothes and bric-À-brac, which was a cause of genuine concern to many people. I have received numerous complaints from the public about such collections, as have Members of both this and the other House. I made it an offence to cause the public to reasonably believe that an organisation is a charity, irrespective of the terminology used by the organisation in its leaflets and so on. By that I mean that it does not explicitly have to use the word "charity". The amendments strengthened the provision and greatly limited the scope for non-charitable organisations to suggest to the public that they are charitable in nature. This will in turn help the public to distinguish between genuine charitable collections and non-charitable collections. While I introduced it specifically to deal with door-to-door collections, it will also deal with the issue of mass cards, because if somebody is giving the impression they are selling mass cards for a charity and it is not charitable, it will be dealt with accordingly.

The issue of mass cards has come up time and again and has exercised Members of both Houses. I have been backwards and forwards in consultation with numerous legal advisers to obtain a form that is acceptable and manageable, and we will bring that in, as I indicated earlier, on Report Stage. For this reason, I cannot accept the amendments.