Tommy Broughan (Dublin North East, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

91. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the funding provided to benefacts.ie given that this service is already being provided by the underfunded charitiesregulatoryauthority.ie, the website of the Charities Regulatory Authority; the reason the decision was made to provide €1.95 million to benefacts.ie in lieu of supporting charitiesregulatoryauthority.ie; if this decision results in a duplication of services; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [26753/15]

Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

There are more than 12,000 not-for-profit organisations in Ireland, providing employment for more than 100,000 people and with an estimated annual turnover of €6bn annually.

The not-for-profit sector receives more than €4.4bn in annual public funding, yet there is no online source where the public can get an understanding of how the sector is composed and what social needs are being met by this exchequer funding. Benefacts is a new entity which will pilot a model that will, for the first time, provide an extensive body of public information that will make the work of an entire sector more transparent. This will provide a unique source of information on all Irish civil society entities, including charities as well as thousands of entities such as social enterprises, sports bodies, professional bodies and others.

Benefacts, by collating all funding into a single repository, will also provide a key piece of data infrastructure that will ensure that taxpayers' monies are being spent in the most effective manner. This initiative will assist Government and the not-for-profit sector in designing and delivering better services that support the delivery of the best possible outcomes for all citizens.

There is no duplication of functions or services between the work of Benefacts and the Charities Regulatory Authority. The Charities Regulatory Authority has specific regulatory functions while Benefacts has no function in this area.  The Charities Regulator has noted that the charities register is not intended to be a comprehensive database of all information about a charity.  However, there are potential complementarities and I understand that both organisations are exploring how they can cooperate to best effect including the provision of information required by Benefacts from a variety of licensed regulatory sources such as the Charities Regulatory Authority and the Companies Registration Office.

In Budget 2015, additional funding of €500,000 was allocated toward the Charities Regulatory Authority bringing the total budget for the Authority to €1.4m in 2015. This represents an increase of over 50% on the initial budget provided for the establishment phase.

Benefacts, which is co-funded by government and two philanthropic organisations, Atlantic and the Ireland Funds, will receive €1.95m over three years for its own pilot database and web-service project.  It will be operational in early 2016 and will provide readily accessible information and high value datasets that are interoperable and re-usable by the public.

This initiative will also advance a number of the objectives of the public reform agenda by trialing and delivering new ways of working, reducing administrative duplication, delivering open data and providing greater transparency about the use of the public expenditure by all not-for-profit organisations.