Fitzgerald promises to implement Charities Act 2009 in full

Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald has promised to end the cycle of headlines about charity scandals by implementing the Charities Act 2009 in full.

Ms Fitzgerald was speaking at the launch conference of Charities Institute Ireland.

The new representative body for charitable organisations has been formed through the merger of Fundraising Ireland and the Irish Charities Tax Reform Group.

Ms Fitzgerald told the conference: “I’m quite conscious of the fact that the issue of charities has fallen out of the news cycle. For one or two weeks last summer it was all we talked about. And that’s what we became accustomed to; scandals would come and go – and we’d forget about it until the next scandal arose. That cycle must end and I believe that the full implementation of the Charities Act 2009 will end it.

“Almost all of the Charities Act of 2009 has already been implemented. My Department is now engaging with the Regulator on an appropriate timeline for the commencement of the few remaining sections, including provisions in relation to charitable fundraising.

“We now await the outcome of the deliberations of a Consultative Forum on Charitable Fundraising convened by the Regulator last February, at my request, to make recommendations on the implementation of those provisions.

“Public consultations on proposed Accountancy Regulations and Guidelines on Charitable Fundraising began in October.”