Minister says no Irish charity regulator in sight
Howard Lake | 23 May 2012 | News
The Irish Minister for Justice, Alan Shatter, has confirmed that the new Charities Regulatory Authority which was to be established after the passing of the 2009 Charities Act will now not be established.
Mr Shatter said it was not possible to proceed with the full implementation of the Act at this time “given the likely scale of the financial and staffing resources implied”. A figure for the establishment and running of the authority was never given but last year the Charity Commission in Northern Ireland’s running costs were just under £800,000.
As well as a host of regulations relating to financial reporting, the Charities Regulatory Authority had three main functions in relation to the regulation of fundraising – police permits for all types of collections, published details of fundraising and income annually and an agreed code of practice for fundraising.
Some recommendations contained in the 2009 Act have been introduced on a voluntary basis, such as the fundraising code of practice, and charities which are also limited companies are required to submit annual returns.
Minister Shatter said his department encouraged the development by the charity sector itself of a set of voluntary codes of practice for fundraising, “of which openness is a core principle”.
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.