New law would curtail political role of charities, forum told

The Government would be "crazy" to press ahead with legislation that would severely restrict charities' right to engage in advocacy and lobbying, a conference was told yesterday.

Over 100 charities came together in Dublin to discuss the forthcoming Charities Regulation Bill which will regulate charities here for the first time. According to voluntary sector representative body the Wheel - which hosted the conference - there are about 15,000 charities registered in Ireland.

Deirdre Garvey, Wheel chief executive, said regulation of the sector "will be good for charities . . . [but we] must ensure that regulation, now that it's coming, helps and doesn't hinder charities in their work".

"For example, the Government is proposing that organisations that advocate for changes in the law or try to influence Government policy will be excluded from the register of charities," she said.

This would impact on such organisations as the Society of St Vincent de Paul, Barnardos, Age Action Ireland and the Simon Communities.

Andrew Jackson, policy officer with the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations, said charity regulation had been in place in Scotland for two years. He said charities there were not permitted to advocate on behalf of political parties but were allowed to do advocacy work. "The charitable sector has always been the place where new ideas and solutions to social problems have been formed most. They are working at the coal face - they see and experience what works, what isn't working. The idea that any Government wouldn't want to hear that is crazy.

"To take one example in Britain, the Make Poverty History campaign - that was one example of the voluntary sector lobbying and persuading government to alter its spending policies in the developing world.

"I think if the Irish Government does press ahead with the regulations, it would be missing an opportunity to get feedback, ideas, to involve a wider section of society in policy and to generally make society better," he said.

The Charities Regulation Bill will be published in February.