Jerry Buttimer (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the 26 Senators who contributed to this morning’s Order of Business. Eight Senators, including Senators Ardagh, Conway-Walsh, Conway, Boyhan, Dolan, Landy and Norris, raised the issue of Console. I think all of us in this House will join in condemning the lack of transparency and accountability in regard to the governance and use of public moneys in a charity like Console. It is equally important to segregate the two parts of this story. Console, with the Health Service Executive, HSE, is providing a service to people requiring intervention of some type or another and they must have confidence in the service being continued. In tandem with that, there is very important work to be done by the HSE and the Charities Regulator in holding the board or chief executive of the charity to account for the expenditure of money and the governance of the organisation. The revelations are appalling and unacceptable. Those of us involved in the charity and community sector or in sporting organisations expect and demand high standards of probity when dealing with public moneys, in particular money raised by volunteers across the country. It is also important we understand that the HSE in its auditing of accounts of section 38 or section 39 organisations must do so to the letter of the law. The Charities Regulator has been appointed but not because of a Sinn Féin motion. The Charities Act was passed in this House in 2009 and to give Senator Conway-Walsh a history lesson, it was the only time in that Seanad when the Opposition combined to defeat the Government on a Bill. I was the Fine Gael spokesperson on the community sector.