Noel Ahern's Message for the Charities Sector
Latest News - 5 April 2007
Minister Ahern is pleased to announce that the Charities Bill 2007 has been approved by the Government. Please see "This Section" (right hand pane) for further information.
Noel Ahern, T.D., Minister of State at the Department of Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, secured Government approval on 07 March 2006 for the General Scheme for the Charities Regulation Bill 2006. The General Scheme, and selected highlights from it, were then posted on the Department's website. Minister Ahern had the following message for the charities sector:
"This is a ground-breaking initiative. It concerns everybody in this country. Charities impact on the lives of every citizen in Ireland, whether directly or indirectly. People
· work in charities
· fund-raise for charities
· donate time, skills and money, to charities
· are beneficiaries of charities.
I would like to take this opportunity to highlight the value which is placed on the work of our charities, both in Ireland and abroad, by the Government and by the Irish people generally. It is good to remind ourselves of the many and varied contributions which charities can bring to making a difference to people's lives.
In the Agreed Programme for Government, we pledged to take action that would champion the best interests of charities. We have now produced concrete legislative proposals.
Charities have been unregulated since the foundation of the State. The intention behind the new legislation is that an integrated system of mandatory registration and proportionate regulation and supervision of the charities sector will be introduced for the first time in Ireland. For the first time, too, there will be a statutory definition of what a charity is. The approach adopted recognises that:
· it is important to underpin civil society
· charities deserve a statutory framework in keeping with the modern world at the
start of the twenty-first century
· regulatory requirements should be proportionate
· in parallel with the statutory framework, self-regulatory initiatives such as agreed
Codes of Conduct should be encouraged."