Mary Ann O'Brien (Independent)
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I thank the Minister of State for coming to the House. I wish to discuss the position in respect of the charities regulator. Even though the relevant legislation was enacted in 2009, the regulator was not put into place until 18 months ago. The Minister of State is very involved in the area of philanthropy, fundraising and charity. I am here to speak on behalf of the Exchequer, the public and the charity sector. One has to look into every section of the Government. We gave between €4.5 billion and €5 billion to the charity sector. I have read the answer given by the Minister for Justice and Equality in reply to a question in the Dáil recently. The regulator is in place but when will the Minister seek to give it teeth? There are problems and Christmas is coming. I am involved in a very good charity, the Jack & Jill Foundation, of which the Minister of State. Trust is a word that is terribly precious in our society. The Irish are incredible givers but trust is in short supply with charities because of events that occurred in recent years. In addition, information relating to other events is out there and will come to the surface.

I visited the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator, OSCR, which does a very good job of administering 23,500 charities. It has 55 employees and a budget of £3.5 million. I am glad the Minister of State has increased the budget of the Irish regulator to €2.66 million for 2016. Perhaps this will help us to reach the necessary level. I hope the Minister of State will not give me the comforting answer that the regulator has compiled the statutory register of charities and is waiting for the remaining charities not established under the Companies Registration Office, CRO, to put in their paperwork and register. Before this regulator was put in place, the Irish Nonprofits Knowledge Exchange, INKEx, had a register ready to go and most charities are registered with the CRO, so most of that work has been done. The public needs to know that charities are using their resources correctly and who exactly is responsible for running a particular charity. It also wants to know that the Government has an up to date database of charities, that charities are compliant, what is spent on marketing and payroll and where exactly their money is going.

Jimmy Deenihan (Kerry North-West Limerick, Fine Gael)
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On behalf of the Minister for Justice and Equality, Deputy Fitzgerald, I thank Senator Mary Ann O'Brien for raising this important issue. The Minister regrets that she cannot be present here this morning because of pressing issues.

The Charities Regulatory Authority was established as an independent agency on 16 October 2014 under the provisions of the Charities Act 2009. The aim of the authority is to provide better regulation of charitable organisations through a framework of registration, regulation and support. This framework is intended to enhance public confidence in the vast majority of charities who do immense work to improve outcomes and circumstances for those they are established to help. As was indicated by the Minister for Justice and Equality on the establishment of the authority, it has a wide range of functions under the Charities Act 2009, which are being introduced on a phased basis, beginning with the compilation of the statutory register of charities. The initial priority of the authority was the development of the register. Some 8,500 CHY charities with tax exemption status were registered automatically on the register of charities on the establishment of the authority. In addition, any charity established before 16 October 2014 and not automatically registered must apply directly to the authority for inclusion on the register by 16 April 2016.

The authority has undertaken a variety of work since its establishment, including the establishment of the register of charities and a fully online system for registration and annual reporting by charities; communication with the 8,500 CHY charities with tax exemption status regarding the additional information and legal documentation required to support their registered status; development of an online system for organisations to apply for inclusion on the register of charities; provision of information to the charities sector on its obligations and duties under the new regulatory regime; and the continuation of services hitherto provided by the commissioners of charitable donations and bequests for Ireland.

The range of services to be provided by the authority is being developed on an ongoing basis. These services include the development of an annual reporting framework for registered charities, the development of a monitoring and compliance programme and the development of the investigative role of the authority under Part 4 of the Act, which has not yet been commenced. The register, when more advanced, will underpin the investigative and other regulatory work of the authority. In the meantime, the authority has put in place an interim process for the handling of complaints it receives about suspected abuse of charitable status or fraud in charities.Under this process, all complaints received in writing will be subject to an initial review and assessment by the authority to determine whether any further action is appropriate. The Minister for Justice and Equality is committed to ensuring the authority has the necessary resources available to enable it to fulfil its statutory mandate. Significant additional resources and a budget allocation for 2016 of €2.665 million, which represents an 88% increase on the allocation for 2015, are being made available to the authority. This includes additional funding of €1.25 million which will enable an expansion of staffing levels and other resources available to the authority in 2016. The approval of additional staff for the authority during 2015 and the provision of significant additional resources in the 2016 Estimate to facilitate the recruitment of further staff amount to clear evidence that the Minister is determined to ensure the authority is appropriately resourced.

Mary Ann O'Brien (Independent)
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I thank the Minister of State for his reply from which I do take comfort. I ask him to imagine an analogy. If he and I had started a business and were spending €4.5 billion in approximately 12,000 charities, we would want to know which of them were efficient, how the funds were being used and the value being delivered to the taxpayer. I welcome the extra budget provision, for which the Minister has fought, for the regulator. I hope the Minister of State, following our interaction, will inform the Minister that I cannot stress enough the importance of this matter. The public wants to go on giving, but we need to give the regulator teeth. If there are complaints or inefficiencies in the sector, we need to give enough money to the regulator to staff the authority.

I referred to the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator, OSCR. Scotland has a similar charity landscape to ours. We can achieve a satisfactory result. The sum of €4.5 billion is a lot for the Exchequer. One could sleepwalk into the area because a lot is going on. We have to keep trust in the sector and the sector on the straight and narrow. It is wonderful. If we were to talk long and hard about it, we would find every single sector of Irish society was dependent on the charity sector. For instance, there are many good charities doing work in the medical, hospital, education and disability fields.

Jimmy Deenihan (Kerry North-West Limerick, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Senator for raising this important issue. Like her, I, too, am involved in a number of fundraising initiatives and have been so involved for possibly the past 40 years. I agree that where there is considerable Exchequer and private funding involved, it is important to ensure the confidence and trust of the donor are paramount. Otherwise people will stop giving. I empathise with what the Senator is saying and assure her that the Minister for Justice and Equality is fully cognisant of the need to ensure the highest standards of transparency and good governance in the charity sector. Accordingly, she is committed to ensuring the Charities Regulatory Authority will be an effective regulator of the sector.

Among the principal functions of the authority set out in section 14 of the Charities Act 2009 is the requirement for the authority to increase public trust and confidence in the management and administration of charitable trusts and organisations. The staffing of the authority has been increased since its establishment on 16 October 2014. It must be noted that the authority is just more than one year old and still very much in a capacity building phase. The significant increase in resources being made available by the Government to the authority in 2016 is a clear signal of the Government's determination to ensure the authority will continue to expand its range of activities and become a strong regulator of the sector.