Results 621-640 of 1,142,696 for in 'Dáil debates' OR (speaker:Damien English OR speaker:Ruairi Ó Murchú OR speaker:Catherine Murphy OR speaker:Mary Lou McDonald OR speaker:Mairead Farrell OR speaker:Neale Richmond OR speaker:Duncan Smith OR speaker:Hildegarde Naughton OR speaker:Thomas Pringle OR speaker:John McGuinness OR speaker:Róisín Shortall OR speaker:Eamon Ryan OR speaker:Kieran O'Donnell OR speaker:Mark Ward OR speaker:Darren O'Rourke OR speaker:Robert Troy OR speaker:Brian Leddin OR speaker:Seán Sherlock OR speaker:Brendan Griffin OR speaker:Ossian Smyth OR speaker:Dara Calleary OR speaker:Paul Donnelly OR speaker:Patrick O'Donovan OR speaker:Colm Burke OR speaker:Niall Collins OR speaker:Dessie Ellis OR speaker:Joe O'Brien OR speaker:Réada Cronin OR speaker:Norma Foley) in 'Committee meetings'

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

Mairead Farrell: It is €79,000. I had just assumed. At least the regulator has moved from having a deficit to a surplus. I raise the issue of Stewarts Care, which was investigated by the HSE. I am just wondering what role the Charities Regulator had and why there was no charity regulator involved in any investigation.

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

Mairead Farrell: At any point does Ms Delaney feel that she would like to have greater powers in that respect? Does Ms Delaney think it would be of benefit if the Charities Regulator had the funding and the resources put into it?

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

Mairead Farrell: That is fair. Following up from my colleague Deputy Brady's query about gathering data on CEO remuneration, obviously we see so many fantastic charities across this State that put huge work in, and so many people are constantly supporting it, but there have been times when people have had concerns about the remuneration of CEOs. That is something that has had quite a focus placed on it,...

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

Mairead Farrell: I thank Ms Delaney. Just-----

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

Catherine Murphy: Thank you. Your time is up, Deputy. There will be time for a second round. I call Deputy Ó Cathasaigh.

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

Catherine Murphy: I thank Ms Delaney for answering. It was a very big question that took up two minutes.I have no doubt we will come back to this matter, including for the benefit of myself. I suggest that Deputy O'Connor makes his contribution before we take a break.

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

Catherine Murphy: I hope the Deputy reported it.

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

Catherine Murphy: Yes. We will take a ten-minute break. The meeting is suspended.

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

Catherine Murphy: I welcome the witnesses back. I want to go back to the issue Deputy Ó Cathasaigh raised regarding approved housing bodies. I appreciate that some predate by a considerable distance the existence of the Charities Regulator. I have serious concerns about the asset base of properties for which the mortgage is paid off and that are now unencumbered. A couple of years ago, the Department...

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

Catherine Murphy: The Charities Regulator is doing a piece of work with the Approved Housing Bodies Regulatory Authority. What is that work?

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

Catherine Murphy: My attention was drawn to it when someone who was on the board of a small approved housing body was talking about their portfolio of properties. I was absolutely shocked by that. That is what prompted me to start asking questions about this. In theory, an organisation could change its constitution, but there are protections.

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

Catherine Murphy: That goes to the governance and whoever is on the board of directors.

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

Catherine Murphy: I am trying to envisage a situation. In the way AHBs are set up, there is often co-operation with the local authority. There would be a piece of land and housing would be developed, and that would be important because it brings some affordable housing supply. Some of this goes back decades. The bigger ones are of less concern because they were set up in a modern context and they are...

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

Catherine Murphy: Who would bring that to the attention of the Charities Regulator? Is there something that can be identified in the accounts? Is it a question of a complaint coming to the regulator? Where are the routes from which it would get that information?

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

Catherine Murphy: Some of the 11,000-odd charities are schools and sporting clubs and some charities are public services that, in other jurisdictions, would be public services rather than charities providing services to the public. One of the biggest responsibilities of the Charities Regulator is to make sure the public has trust in the other cohort of more recognised charities, if you like. There have been...

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

Catherine Murphy: Okay. The Department would have had to have provided funding. Homelessness is an escalating problem. I remember the first time I raised the issue of a family sleeping in a car. It was ten years ago. It was 2014 and that kind of thing was unheard of before that. There would have been a cohort of people who would have been rough sleeping who would have had complex issues. It now...

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

Catherine Murphy: On the Department and the Peter McVerry Trust, the Department would have had to provide it with funding or it would have got funding through the Dublin Region Homeless Executive. It possibly got funding from other local authorities as well. As the local authority in Kildare partners with the Peter McVerry Trust with regard to one of the homeless facilities, there is a direct relationship...

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

Catherine Murphy: I will turn to 11.15 of the C and AG's report on page 181, which states: The checking included one spot check of the Peter McVerry Trust's expenditure, seeking invoices to substantiate expenditure in quarter 1 of €94,206. The [Dublin Region Homeless Executive] explained to the Department that quarter one funding is not invoice based and therefore the Department could [not] exercise...

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

Catherine Murphy: Okay. The organisation has 13 members on the board. Do they rotate and how often? Obviously there is a governance issue here.

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

Catherine Murphy: Nonetheless, in theory they could all be there for five years and they could be renewed for another five years.