Results 561-580 of 1,095,357 for in 'Dáil debates' OR (speaker:Tom Kitt OR speaker:Róisín Shortall OR speaker:Jennifer Murnane O'Connor OR speaker:Stephen Donnelly OR speaker:Brendan Griffin OR speaker:Verona Murphy OR speaker:Michael Collins OR speaker:Noel Grealish OR speaker:Thomas Byrne OR speaker:Ivana Bacik OR speaker:Damien English OR speaker:Michael Fitzmaurice OR speaker:Hildegarde Naughton OR speaker:Alan Farrell OR speaker:Aodhán Ó Ríordáin OR speaker:Darragh O'Brien OR speaker:Seán Haughey OR speaker:Sorca Clarke OR speaker:Jack Chambers OR speaker:James Browne OR speaker:Patricia Ryan OR speaker:James O'Connor OR speaker:Jennifer Carroll MacNeill OR speaker:Francis Noel Duffy OR speaker:Aindrias Moynihan OR speaker:Éamon Ó Cuív OR speaker:Éamon Ó Cuív56 OR speaker:Duncan Smith OR speaker:Paul Donnelly) in 'Committee meetings'

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

Verona Murphy: It is from the actual accounts. Maybe the witnesses from the Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General can help me in this regard. There is a figure of-----

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

Verona Murphy: Yes.

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

Verona Murphy: The figure stood at €2,457,050 in 2022 and increased to €2,683,616 in 2023, with the same levels of staffing.

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

Verona Murphy: Were those increases agreed as part of the public pay talks?

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

Verona Murphy: That explains that. I often receive calls from constituents who are trying to register charities and they find it a pretty arduous process. I am not saying that is the Charities Regulator's fault. For people who want to do good, there is a rigorous process in place. It can be daunting for someone who is not a solicitor or an accountant. What is the average time it takes to register a...

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

Verona Murphy: Is that the time it should take or what it is actually taking?

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

Verona Murphy: The Charities Regulator has 44 staff and there are 11,016 charities. That means that if all staff took their fair share, although I assume not all staff deal with inspections, each employee would have to do 267 inspections. I take it the Charities Regulator is not doing random sampling inspections.

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

Verona Murphy: Does Ms Delaney consider that a problem? I mean that not as an accusation but from the public perspective. Is it the case that any inspections the Charities Regulator does are brought on the basis of a complaint notified to it?

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

Verona Murphy: Does the Charities Regulator have any idea what the monetary value is of the 11,016 registered charities? Does it have a ballpark figure? They have to register their accounts with the Charities Regulator.

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

Verona Murphy: I am looking at the Charities Regulator’s budget. We are here to assess value for money. From what I have seen from the figures of the Peter McVerry Trust, it has an asset value of approximately €70 million, although I may be corrected on that.

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

Verona Murphy: Is that after disposals?

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

Verona Murphy: That is its income, but what is its asset value?

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

Verona Murphy: It has charitable status. Does it pay tax?

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

Verona Murphy: The whole issue with debt warehousing and such ran into €8 million. That is just one charity. Ms Delaney told us the Charities Regulator's resourcing from the Government is €5 million per year. Ms Delaney probably has an opinion that she may or may not be able to share but if that is just one charity, the Charities Regulator is very under-resourced from a confidence and...

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

Verona Murphy: How much of that was to go towards salaries?

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

Verona Murphy: It was only for salaries.

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

Verona Murphy: Is it fair to say that the Government gave €30 million odd to bail out the Peter McVerry Trust? I ask the Comptroller and Auditor General's office if that is where we ended up.

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

Verona Murphy: I will finish with this but, leaving it at €15 million, it is counterproductive not to resource the regulator when we are providing money and where we can see it is not being spent accordingly. I take it the regulator's investigation into the Peter McVerry Trust is not yet complete.

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

Verona Murphy: We look forward to having the regulator back on that basis. I thank Ms Delaney.

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

James O'Connor: I welcome all the witnesses. The Peter McVerry Trust is in the headlines for the wrong reasons, which has prompted a lot of questions that need to be answered around what merits the Charities Regulator getting involved to undertake investigative work. Under Part IV of the Charities Act 2009, the Charities Regulator has the power to appoint investigators to investigate the affairs of any...