John Curran (Dublin Mid West, Fianna Fail)

The Bill is designed to enhance the security of both cash and non-cash collections and ,thus, bolster public confidence. To this end, it currently provides that cash collectors must use a sealed box. This was intended to address the open bucket method, which can give rise to concerns over the security of the collection. However, this raised concerns within the charity sector, which were reflected in the contributions of Members on Second Stage last week, in the Dáil and in these amendments. The concern was that the provision did not accommodate collectors giving change to donors where fixed price tokens were sold. While the legislation is intended to enhance security, it is not intended to unduly hinder collectors or to discourage potential donors from purchasing a token because the collector cannot provide change. The approach needed was to allow for exceptions to be made to the sealed box rule without compromising the general principle underpinning it. I thank Members and sectoral representatives for their constructive input to this matter. I propose the amendment I agreed with the Office of the Attorney General be accepted. This will allow the authority discretion in applying the sealed box provision, which is the principle underpinning the amendments.