Martin Conway (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

It was announced this morning that Ms Angela Kerins, the chief executive officer of Rehab, was to retire. I wish her well in her retirement. We have had many discussions on the charity sector recently and the fact that significant State support goes to what are called section 39 companies. With a debate on section 39 and a statement from the Minister on our position on reviews and acting on some of the information discovered through the Committee of Public Accounts, I would like to see a new corporate governance structure for companies and organisations that receive significant State support. Putting public interest directors on the boards of some of the companies is worthy of consideration. Under such a model, directors would report monthly and yearly to the Minister on activities at board level and represent the public interest. Not only are the companies receiving millions of euro of State money in some cases, they are also collecting many millions of euro from the general public. This is money from Irish citizens, collected through taxes or in buckets. The public is expecting significant change and much more accountability in this area. The concept of having public interest directors on the boards of charities is worthy of consideration.