Results 621-640 of 1,140,778 for in 'Dáil debates' OR (speaker:Tom Kitt OR speaker:Duncan Smith OR speaker:Cian O'Callaghan OR speaker:Denis Naughten OR speaker:Gary Gannon OR speaker:Dara Calleary OR speaker:Mark Ward OR speaker:Joe Flaherty OR speaker:Carol Nolan OR speaker:Sorca Clarke OR speaker:Roderic O'Gorman OR speaker:Michael Collins OR speaker:Claire Kerrane OR speaker:Ruairi Ó Murchú OR speaker:Thomas Gould OR speaker:Louise O'Reilly OR speaker:Niamh Smyth OR speaker:James O'Connor OR speaker:Norma Foley OR speaker:Brian Stanley OR speaker:Simon Harris OR speaker:Johnny Mythen OR speaker:Richard Boyd Barrett OR speaker:Marc Ó Cathasaigh OR speaker:Jennifer Whitmore OR speaker:James Lawless OR speaker:John Brady OR speaker:Marian Harkin OR speaker:Robert Troy OR speaker:Eoin Ó Broin OR speaker:Seán Fleming OR speaker:Danny Healy-Rae OR speaker:Verona Murphy OR speaker:Michael Fitzmaurice OR speaker:Michael Healy-Rae OR speaker:Seán Haughey) in 'Committee meetings'

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: 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)

Marc Ó Cathasaigh: To pick up on Ms Delaney's final point, it highlights the importance of the Charities Regulator and its role. When people donate to a charity, they understand that there are administrative costs and staffing costs but they like to think that the money, or a large percentage of it, is doing what it says on the tin. The Charities Regulator is incredibly important in that. We have had a...

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

Marc Ó Cathasaigh: It is the one thing that jumped out from the Comptroller and Auditor General's report. I would like to be able to see that money a little more clearly. I am not making any suggestion that there is anything untoward there, but we have seen at this committee other funds that were maybe less than transparent being used for all sorts of interesting items like flip-flops and so on. I do not...

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

Marc Ó Cathasaigh: I thank Ms Drinan. I was involved in the Charities (Amendment) Act, which was passed by the select committee on rural and community development, of which I am a member. Ms Delaney said that some parts of this important Act are not commenced yet. I was going to say "Bill", but it was signed into law on, I think, 10 July. There were earlier questions about staffing and resourcing for the...

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

Marc Ó Cathasaigh: Are the ICT system changes likely to be contracted out in the way Ms Delaney was describing earlier?

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

Marc Ó Cathasaigh: Very good. I suppose that is more a future-facing question so perhaps it is not really properly a question for this committee. The atomic bomb the regulator can deploy is to have somebody removed from the charities register. Is that a power that is often invoked?

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

Marc Ó Cathasaigh: Are many more charities being considered? Are there more prosecutions on the way?

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

Marc Ó Cathasaigh: This is an unusual question for the committee but is the regulator under-resourced in that area? I am surprised the regulator has only one dedicated staff member working on this.

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

Marc Ó Cathasaigh: That is very good. I will ask a very big question in two minutes and I do not suppose we will get to the bottom of it. Approved housing bodies are becoming a bigger part of housing provision and they are going to become difficult. There are encumbered assets with loans against them. There are unencumbered assets where some of these houses are being bought through fund-raising and have no...

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

Marc Ó Cathasaigh: Is it open to AHBs to change from charitable status? One of my concerns is that AHBs with charitable status may decide to change their status, which would lead to a complicated question about assets.

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

Marc Ó Cathasaigh: Has the regulator the power to retrospectively make sure the clauses are in place?

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...