Results 561-580 of 1,125,515 for in 'Dáil debates' OR (speaker:Tom Kitt OR speaker:Éamon Ó Cuív OR speaker:Martin Kenny OR speaker:Michael McNamara OR speaker:Danny Healy-Rae OR speaker:Neale Richmond OR speaker:Éamon Ó Cuív5 OR speaker:Aodhán Ó Ríordáin OR speaker:Thomas Byrne OR speaker:Paul Murphy OR speaker:Cathal Crowe OR speaker:Bríd Smith OR speaker:Pippa Hackett OR speaker:Christopher O'Sullivan OR speaker:John Lahart OR speaker:Anne Rabbitte OR speaker:David Cullinane OR speaker:John Brady OR speaker:James Lawless OR speaker:Paul McAuliffe OR speaker:Patricia Ryan OR speaker:Niamh Smyth OR speaker:Mark Ward OR speaker:Joe Flaherty OR speaker:John McGuinness OR speaker:Dessie Ellis OR speaker:Robert Troy OR speaker:Bernard Durkan OR speaker:Jennifer Carroll MacNeill OR speaker:Mairead Farrell OR speaker:Joe O'Brien OR speaker:Micheál Martin OR speaker:Mick Barry OR speaker:Neasa Hourigan OR speaker:Marc Ó Cathasaigh) in 'Committee meetings'

Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2023 - Charities Regulatory Authority (17 Oct 2024)

John Brady: We absolutely see the need for the regulator and the work it does in ensuring there is regulation and all the standards are adhered to, but in some cases it is construed that there is heavy-handedness in the approach taken. I do a lot of work with organisations that help the homeless, and I am sure others do as well. There was a brilliant organisation in my constituency that was set up by a...

Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2023 - Charities Regulatory Authority (17 Oct 2024)

John Brady: I do not want to get into specific cases or anything like that, but they were certainly not masquerading as some charity. They received small donations, similar to many little groups like that. It was a coming together of community activists and people who wanted to do good. I gave the wrong figure. She was threatened with a fine of €300,000 and-or a prison sentence of up to ten...

Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2023 - Charities Regulatory Authority (17 Oct 2024)

John Brady: She was told this is the process you need to go through. It is a cumbersome and lengthy process that would frighten the life out of anyone trying to register as a charity. The approach was very heavy-handed and wrong and there needs to be a lot more-----

Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2023 - Charities Regulatory Authority (17 Oct 2024)

John Brady: -----working with small groups like that which see a need to address a serious crisis, which is homelessness. Unfortunately, it was forced to cease operating like many other similar small groups.

Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2023 - Charities Regulatory Authority (17 Oct 2024)

Paul McAuliffe: I thank the witnesses for being here this morning and the Comptroller and Auditor General for putting in the work on the report. I agree with Deputy Cannon that it is a very complex landscape and that we are dealing with charities of different capacities and sizes. I think roughly 11,000 charities are registered. Has their turnover been categorised in any way? How many fall into the very...

Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2023 - Charities Regulatory Authority (17 Oct 2024)

Paul McAuliffe: Does Ms Delaney have a breakdown for the number of charities that have incomes of less than €10,000 or €5,000 per year?

Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2023 - Charities Regulatory Authority (17 Oct 2024)

Paul McAuliffe: If a charity has less than €10,000, it is an incredibly small operation. It more than likely does not have any paid staff and is mostly volunteer run. Equally, the auditing requirements are very onerous. Regarding audit fees in some cases, I know of one group with a total income of €2,500 and the cost of auditing is just north of €1,000. Has any consideration been...

Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2023 - Charities Regulatory Authority (17 Oct 2024)

Paul McAuliffe: I find it very frustrating, as does the group itself, which I will not name, that to carry out charitable work, and it inherited a legacy structure, 50% of its fundraising is to satisfy the Charities Regulator. While that is necessary, and I cannot see any other way around it, there is scope to have a more agile approach for smaller charities, as Ms Delaney mentioned. I will leave that with...

Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2023 - Charities Regulatory Authority (17 Oct 2024)

Paul McAuliffe: They are identified as chief executive No. 2 in the report.

Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2023 - Charities Regulatory Authority (17 Oct 2024)

Paul McAuliffe: That is the first concern. Had the cash flow or the financial operational management not become an issue, it is likely that we might not have discovered the many other areas such as the co-mingling of donations, restricted and unrestricted funds, and issues of poor governance decisions by the board and so on. For the Charities Regulator, that must be a lesson in the sense that had the...

Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2023 - Charities Regulatory Authority (17 Oct 2024)

Paul McAuliffe: Does Ms Delaney accept that the relationship between CEO and chair is key? The governance issues or the protection of the public interest really rely on the board. When there is an entirely voluntary board and chairperson, however, without the independent resources of the staffing of the organisation, the board can be in a very weak position to monitor what is happening in the organisation.

Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2023 - Charities Regulatory Authority (17 Oct 2024)

Paul McAuliffe: I agree, but does Ms Delaney accept the resourcing of the board is the issue there? I am not speaking about a particular case here, but if there was any attempt by a senior staff member, the CEO or staff in general to mislead the board, it could be incredibly difficult for a board that may meet once a month, whose members perhaps do not know each other very well as board members and who do...

Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2023 - Charities Regulatory Authority (17 Oct 2024)

Paul McAuliffe: Ms Delaney is outlining the obligations of the directors and the board and I do not take from those. My point is that many directors find it very difficult to fulfil that because they are entirely dependent for resourcing and expertise and information on the people who work within the organisation. Where it goes wrong, that is often the challenge.

Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2023 - Charities Regulatory Authority (17 Oct 2024)

Paul McAuliffe: In some cases in community structures, for example, the people involved are very well meaning but perhaps do not have the experience and so on. That is the weakness of corporate governance in Ireland. It is the reason we will have other instances. We are not resourcing the boards. That brings me to my second point, which is the recruitment and retention of board members. Why in God's...

Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2023 - Charities Regulatory Authority (17 Oct 2024)

Paul McAuliffe: We can look at youth centres and community structures across the country. This is the spending of public money and it is governed by volunteers we are not providing sufficient resources to. These are the charities Ms Delaney and her colleagues regulate.

Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2023 - Charities Regulatory Authority (17 Oct 2024)

Mairead Farrell: Gabhaim buíochas leis an Leas-Chathaoirleach agus leis na finnéithe as teacht os comhair an choiste. In the briefing pack it is mentioned that the Charities Regulator is responsible for the registration and regulation of charities in Ireland. Can I take it that the regulator grants charitable trust ownership structures to companies here as well? In other words, they must apply to...

Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2023 - Charities Regulatory Authority (17 Oct 2024)

Mairead Farrell: All right. Under the 2009 Act, the regulator is required to ensure and monitor compliance by charitable organisations and to carry out investigations in accordance with the Act. Does that apply to all companies with a charitable ownership structure?

Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2023 - Charities Regulatory Authority (17 Oct 2024)

Mairead Farrell: Does this include the type of structures that are traded within the IFSC?

Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2023 - Charities Regulatory Authority (17 Oct 2024)

Mairead Farrell: Why is that?

Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2023 - Charities Regulatory Authority (17 Oct 2024)

Mairead Farrell: I understand the regulator looked into this in 2017 and I think four companies were identified as using that section 110. Am I correct?