John Curran (Dublin Mid West, Fianna Fail)

As Senators will be aware, the Charities Bill 2007 provides that the advancement of religion shall have a charitable purpose with a rebuttable provision to deal with those organisations whose religious credentials are doubtful or whose methods are suspect. The Bill does not attempt to define religion, nor would it be wise to do so as religion has a much wider context than merely charity law. The other principal charitable purposes such as poverty and education have similarly not been defined in the Bill. It will be a matter then for the charities regulatory authority to determine, in a case-by-case basis utilising common law and precedent as well as its own expertise, whether an applicant body has a charitable purpose and serves a public benefit. In addition, it will be open to all applicants for charitable status to appeal decisions to the authority, to the charity appeals board and, in turn, to the High Court. In that regard, I am afraid I cannot accept the amendment.