Ned O'Sullivan (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I was at a meeting recently at which the question of NGOs came up. A person in the audience asked what an NGO is and as a public representative, I did my best to explain. It led to an interesting discussion and what came across to me was that the general public do not know much about NGOs, how they operate, who they represent and how they are established. There also seems to be concern that there is duplication, and I know about that from my experience on Oireachtas committees over the years. If an issue comes up, we are not confronted with or asked to meet one advocacy group but five, six, seven or eight of them, many of which are hard to differentiate from one other. In addition, there will more than likely be an umbrella advocacy group for those groups, which leads to layer upon layer of confusion.

I was also asked how the Government decides which NGOs get money and on what basis they are allocated money. If I, as an Oireachtas Member, do not know the answer to that question, the chances are that 90% of the public do not know either. I ask the Leader to see if it is possible for Government Information Service to produce some form of directory or guide to NGOs in Ireland. How do the NGOs take their titles? Some have grandiose titles like the national council for this or the institute for that. One example is the National Women's Council of Ireland. Women tell me they do not know what it does and that it seems to be a left-wing group that does not represent them. That is what I am hearing and I am just telling the truth and taking that organisation as an example. How do these organisations get their titles and assume a national identity if they are not representing maybe 90% of the community of women in that case?

It is time some sense was brought to this area. I am all for representative groups providing a service, information and advocacy for good causes. However, some idea needs to be given to us as to their priorities, how they are formed and funded, what their entitlements are, if they see themselves as helping groups or if they see their job as to attack Government, the church or other institutions. I would like to know about that issue in general.