Catherine Noone (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

On the meeting of the Committee of Public Accounts yesterday, I am astonished by the ongoing revelations concerning the Central Remedial Clinic and the constant drip of damaging information, for want of a better phrase, that is harming the charities sector and hurting donations to many charities at this crucial time of the year. Yesterday was a particularly dark day in this saga, as we learned that €660,000 was paid last year and in each of the past ten years towards maintaining a pension fund that was or was not in place.

This money for old rope, or in this case, money for the maintenance of a rope that does not exist is incredible. However, the bigger issue is how we regulate the charity sector generally. In the new year we should make it our priority to debate how charities are regulated. While I believe the board should resign, in the shorter term it should make itself available to the Committee of Public Accounts to answer its questions. The board should remain in place until the investigations have been completed but it should resigned immediately afterwards. Things are bad enough without eroding public confidence in charities. I only hope people realise that the vast majority of charities are not engaged in this unscrupulous behaviour and are using their funds properly and wisely. It is most regrettable that the front-line users of services, particularly in the case of an institution like the CRC, will be the ones who ultimately suffer.