Clare Daly (Dublin North, United Left)
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155. To ask the Minister for Finance if the Revenue Commissioners' reviews of organisations which receive tax exempt status under the heading, the advancement of religion, take into account that the very right-wing political views advanced by many of these organisations run totally counter to the views of the majority of the members of these Christian religions; and if the Revenue Commissioners do not currently take these issues into consideration, if he will introduce amending legislation to ensure that the Revenue Commissioners will do so in the future in order that these organisations do not abuse their tax exempt status by solely representing and advancing their own right wing beliefs. [17647/15]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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When determining if a Body or Trust is entitled to a charitable tax exemption the Revenue Commissioners rely on the definitions of charitable purposes as provided for by the Charities Act 2009. One of the definitions in the Act in this regard is the advancement of religion.

When reviewing the compliance of relevant Bodies/Trusts with the terms of an exemption all relevant matters are taken into consideration. This particularly includes scrutiny of the application of funds and assets to ensure that all resources are being applied for the advancement of the charitable purposes contained in the governing instrument.

In this regard the Revenue Commissioners has assured me that the current tax legislation facilitates the examination of all appropriate matters regarding compliance by the Body/Trust with the terms of the governing instrument and in the circumstances I have no plans to amend the provisions at this time.

Finally, I confirmed in previous replies to Questions on this issue that the Charities Act also provided for the creation of a Charities Regulator. The role of the Regulator is to oversee compliance by Charities with their legal obligations and to ensure proper governance in respect of registration, the preparation of statements of account and the submission of annual activity reports. Some of the issues raised by the Deputy may be more relevant to that office rather than to the Revenue Commissioners.