Charities welcome announcement of regulator

Groups representing charities and professional fundraisers welcomed the announcement by Minister for Justice Alan Shatter last night of the upcoming establishment of a charities regulatory authority.

The Irish Charities Tax Reform group (ICTR), which is the representative body for Irish charities, “strongly welcomed” the announcement.

ICTR executive director Sheila Nordon said the establishment of the office “will provide concrete reassurances to the general public that the highest standards of good governance apply”.

Deirdre Garvey, the chief executive of The Wheel, a network representing 930 Irish charities, described the move as “a breakthrough”.

“This development will enable the charity sector to move forward in our attempts to restore public trust and confidence in our work.”

Fundraising Ireland chief executive Anne Hanniffy said that the first job of the regulator should be to introduce mandatory financial and operational standards so that donors can “immediately determine” where their money is going.

“The shocking revelations about the activities of the Central Remedial Clinic board have betrayed not just the hard-working staff, the families and the clients of the CRC, but the entire charity sector in Ireland,” she said.