Michael Mullins (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I join other Senators in remembering the awful tragedy in County Louth 12 months ago when Detective Garda Adrian Donohoe lost his life. I hope media reports in recent days suggesting there might soon be a breakthrough in the investigation are accurate, for the sake of Detective Garda Donohoe's family, the gardaí who lost a trusted colleague and the community around Lordship in County Louth. We must all give our full support to members of the Garda, many of whom operate in very dangerous circumstances in many instances.

I hope the membership of the banking inquiry team will include Members of this House as well as the Dáil. One could not find a person in this country who has not expressed strong views on the manner in which the banks operated in the past decade. It is ludicrous to suggest that a public representative who uttered strong statements on the matter should be precluded from membership of the inquiry. I am sure every citizen holds and has expressed strong views on the difficulties into which the banking industry placed this country.

I very much welcome the announcement in recent days by the Minister for Justice and Equality, Deputy Alan Shatter, that the regulatory office for charities will be established in the coming months. The entire charities sector is an amazing mess, with major irregularities being perpetrated on an ongoing basis throughout the country. As Senator John Whelan observed, it is an industry worth €6 billion to €8 billion and it is time we got to grips with it. The Government has cleaned up a great deal of mess since coming into office. The mess that is the charities sector will be addressed by putting the sector on a proper footing so that the people who depend on the moneys raised by legitimate organisations continue to benefit from them and we can all have confidence that the money given voluntarily by people out of their income is used for the purposes intended. I urge the Minister to proceed without delay to sort this area out once and for all.