Charity legislation becomes law
Howard Lake | 4 March 2009 | News
The new charities legislation in the Republic of Ireland has finally been signed into law. President Mary McAleese signed the Charities Act 2007 last Saturday following its passage through the Dáil and Seanad.
The Charities Act makes provision for a new body, the Charities Regulatory Authority (CRA) and for registration and regulation of charities. It is an offence for a person to advertise, solicit money for, or accept money on behalf of, a charity or charitable body that has not been registered by the CRA. Existing charities will have to apply for registration.
The legislation has taken a long time to make it onto the statue books and just last month there was controversy when the Government amended the Bill in the Seanad making it a criminal offence to sell bogus Mass cards where the signature of the priest was not genuine and no Mass actually said.
During the debate, Senator David Norris read from an opinion provided by former attorney general John Rogers SC to a solicitor for a man who sells genuine Mass cards signed by a priest in the Philippines.
Mr Rogers’s opinion was that the provision was “an unjustified restriction on the Article 44 guarantee of the free profession and practice of religion”.
About Howard Lake
Howard Lake is consultant editor of UK Fundraising. He founded the site in 1994 and successfully sold it in 2022. As director of Giving X Ltd he is exploring growing giving on a massive scale.
He is the founder of Fundraising Camp and co-founder of GoodJobs.