Charities should consider merging, says Tánaiste

Many charities are duplicating the work of others and should consider merging or sharing staff, Minister for Justice Frances Fitzgerald has said.

Speaking at the publication of the Charities Regulator’s first strategy statement, for 2016 to 2018, Ms Fitzgerald said there were “many charities focused on the same issue”.

“We don’t want to see reinvention of the wheel. When you have charities in one area, ideally when there are new charities emerging, they should gain from the experience of other charities in the field.”

The Minister said that as charities registered with the regulator it would be possible to get a picture of the level of duplication in the sector around the State.

“All of that is on the table so we give the public the very best service from the very best charities.”

Charitable purpose

Chief executive of the Charities Regulator John Farrell said from now on when new charities applied for registration one factor would be whether their "charitable purpose" was already being served.

The Charities Regulator, established in 2014 under the Charities Act 2009, registers charities and monitors compliance with legislation. There are about 12,000 charities in the State, including 3,600 schools. So far more than 8,000 have registered, with a further 1,500 in the process. Schools are being registered in a bulk move.

From September 5th, part IV of the Charities Act will be in force giving the regulator statutory investigative and enforcement powers.

Mr Farrell said it was vital that everyone, including State agencies, brought concerns about wrongdoing in any charity to the regulator’s attention. It was “unacceptable” that the HSE did not bring its concerns about Console to the authority’s attention.

If any entity or State agency had information of “significant non-compliance with the Charities Act they should pass that information to the Charities Regulator as a matter of urgency”.