John Curran (Dublin Mid West, Fianna Fail)

Last week I introduced an amendment that excluded certain educational organisations from particular provisions of the Bill. Having reflected further on the matter and following consultation with the Office of the Attorney General, I table these two amendments today to have the following effect. Having consulted the Department of Education and Science, I am adding third level educational fund-raising foundations to the definition of education body. In the amendment I introduced last week, inter alia, I exempted education bodies from the requirement to keep books of accounts under section 47. On further consideration, having taken advice on the matter, I believe it is essential that the financial position of a charity should be verifiable at any given time and in this regard I am removing the previous exemption under section 47. It is not unreasonable to expect an organisation to maintain financial records, especially where it enjoys an exemption from having to file a statement of accounts.