Sinn Féin bring Charities (Amendment)
Bill before Dáil during PMB - Mac Lochlainn
Sinn Féin justice spokesperson,
Pádraig MacLochlainn TD, introduced the Sinn Féin Charities (Amendment) Bill in
the Dáil during Private Members Business. Below is the text of Deputy
MacLochlainn's contribution.
Charities (Amendment) Bill 2014
Sinn Féin PMB
Pádraig Mac Lochlainn TD
21/01/2014
A Ceann Comhairle, Sinn Féin are
using our Private Members Business tonight and tomorrow night to debate our
recently published Charities (Amendment) Bill 2014.
As most of the members of the house
will already be aware, this bill seeks to amend the Charities Act of 2009 by
ensuring that all the provisions of that Act are fully enacted by 31st May
2014.
It also seeks to add the ‘advancement
of human rights’ on to the definitions of charities eligible to be registered
as outlined in the charitable purpose section or Section 3 of the 2009 Act.
I just want to take members briefly
through the purpose of the 2009 act before going on to discuss our bill.
The original purpose of the Charities
Act 2009 was to reform the law relating to charities. It aimed to ensure
greater accountability, offer protection against abuse of charitable status and
fraud and also to enhance public trust and confidence in charities and increase
transparency in the sector.
The Act provided for the creation of a
new charities regulation infrastructure; a Charities Regulator, a Register of
Charities, Consultative Panels to advise the Regulator and the Charity Appeals
Tribunal and the act laid down, for the first time in primary legislation, a
definition of charitable purposes.
The Act meant that organisations, who
wished to present themselves to the public as charities, or fundraise directly
from the public for charitable purposes, will have to seek and secure inclusion
in the new Register of Charities.
What we in Sinn Féin have produced here
is a short and simple bill which is of the utmost importance not only to
charities but also to the public in what has escalated to a crisis following
the CRC scandal.
Our bill seeks to ensure that the
2009 Act is fully implemented once and for all.
Since the foundation of this state
charities have been unregulated. The effect of this is that it is now doing
untold damage both to the charities themselves but also to all of the
vulnerable people who depend on them.
In 2009 Fianna Fáil published this shiny piece of legislation claiming to regulate the
Charities sector but never implemented it, thereby failing the charities and
public confidence in them.
Labour and Fine Gael have had almost
three years to rectify this by fully enacting
all the provisions contained within but instead they rested on their laurels,
allowing scandal after scandal until it got so big they had no option but to
agree to the establishment of a regulatory authority.
I thank the Minister for finally
listening to the charities sector and Sinn Féin on this one.
Unfortunately the failure to act on
this issue over the years is what has created the scandal we are now
witnessing.
The next logical step is to support
our motion tomorrow night and ensure that the entire infrastructure arising
from the original charities act is fully implemented by May of this year.
Despite the fact that it is welcome
and certainly a step in the right direction the establishment of a Charities
Regulatory Authority by Easter in isolation is simply not enough.
We need all provisions of this bill
enacted and we need it done as soon as is possible.
The most vulnerable in our society
are already suffering massively due to the deeply unfair and unjust cutbacks
implemented by this government.
The failure to fund many schemes
which so many of our most marginalised people depended on has meant that more
and more people were relying on charities for their very survival. The scandals
which have erupted have, understandably, had a hugely negative effect on public
confidence which has led to a dip in donations to charities.
The recent revelations of generous
salary top-up payments and gold-plated pensions paid from charitable funds at
the Oireachtas PAC Committee hearings are proof that the sector needs
regulation urgently.
In a survey by The Wheel it was found
that one in five Charities around the country were facing a 10% dip in their
donations even before the scandalous revelations about the CRC this week.
Of 150 charities surveyed they found
that 53% have suffered a drop in fundraising, 97% believe public trust has been
lost and 54% believe the damage may be permanent.
The survey also revealed that one in
four have received concerned phone calls or correspondence from donors or
members of the public and 14% of volunteers, fundraisers or staff have been
subjected to negative or abusive comments.
It was also widely agreed by over 80%
that the Government had not done enough to implement the Charities Act 2009.
The second aspect of our bill is
regarding the inclusion of the ‘advancement of human rights’ in the definitions
under ‘charitable purpose/ Section 3 of the Charities Bill 2009’.
This should never have been left out
in 2009 and is seen as a serious omission. In other jurisdictions it is widely
accepted that the advancement of human rights is a charitable purpose.
There is also a knock on effect in
the failure to include this, for example the principle of equivalence which
lies behind the Good Friday Agreement and which has directed much of the
legislation in this area is undermined as a result of this omission because as
most of you will know, human rights advocacy is afforded charitable status in
the North.
Despite the fact that existing human
rights NGOs are protected, organisations established in the future to protect
human rights will not be afforded charitable status. In addition, existing NGOs
will encounter greater difficulties in raising funds because they will not meet
the criteria set out in the legislation.
The omission of human rights as a
charitable purpose is a systematic and concerted assault on the human rights
architecture of this State.
It is clear to us in Sinn Féin that
if we hadn’t put this on the agenda now then we may have been waiting until the
end of the year or even until 2015 before any moves were made.
As I have already stated, we welcome
the Ministers most recent commitment to the establishment of a Charities
Regulatory Authority by Easter but we need more. We need the 2009 Act fully
implemented to protect Charities and restore public confidence in the sector.
The damage which has been inflicted
on this sector is immeasurable and we as legislators need to move quickly to
help these charities as soon as possible.
We are calling for all party support
tomorrow night on our motion.
Sinn Féin Mountmellick – Serving The Community
