Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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54. To ask the Minister for Finance why religious organisations are not subject to the same level of financial scrutiny as secular organisations; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10999/16]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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In replying to the Deputy's Question I am assuming that she is referring to organisations with a charitable status and who have the charitable tax exemption.

The Deputy will be aware that the regulatory control of charities is a matter for the Charities Regulatory Authority which was established on 16 October 2014 in accordance with the 2009 Charities Act.  Revenue's role is confined to administering the charitable tax exemption as provided for by Section 207 of the Taxes Consolidation Act. This role includes processing and vetting applications from bodies claiming the tax exemption and once granted, undertaking appropriate compliance checks, having regard to risk, to ensure continued compliance with the relevant terms and conditions.

Revenue has assured me that bodies that have charitable tax exemption are subject to an appropriate level of compliance monitoring, having regard to its overall risk focused compliance intervention programmes. Compliance interventions are not determined by whether the body concerned is religious or secular.

I am also informed by Revenue that religious organisations who have employees are obliged to operate PAYE/PRSI in respect of their employees and are subject to the same degree of risk based interventions as any other organisation.