A tough State regulator should be appointed for the charitable sector, a communications consultant, Ms Terry Prone, told a conference yesterday.
Ms Prone, managing director of Carr Communications, said the brief of such a regulator should be wide, but should not include control over what charities say about government or to government in their role as consciousness-raisers.
Public trust was central to the work of charities, and no professional and ethical charity would stand to lose if a State regulator was appointed, she said.
She was speaking at the annual conference of the Irish Charities Tax Reform Group (ICTRG), an umbrella organisation of 35 charities which lobbies on tax issues.
The ICTRG is calling for tax reforms which would yield up to £17 million annually for the sector.
It wants the Minister for Finance to grant tax relief on personal donations to domestic charities, a provision which has applied to overseas charities since 1995.
This would mean that for every donation of £200 made by an individual, the Revenue would pay an additional £63 to the relevant domestic charity in tax relief.
The group estimates this relief would cost the Exchequer up to £5 million in lost tax revenue.
It would allow charities to generate an additional £15 million and £17 million per year, which would benefit more than 200,000 people, the ICTRG says.
The ICTRG's vice-chairwoman, Ms Deirdre Mortell, said this money would be an enormous boost which would make a huge difference to Irish charities.
"We know this because the overseas charity sector has benefited enormously from it. This kind of measure does appeal to donors and does make a difference," she said.
Father Sean Healy from the Conference of Religious of Ireland (CORI) said society needed to place many of the services provided by voluntary and community organisations "on a rights basis rather than a grace and favour basis".
These should include the right to healthcare, appropriate accommodation, an adequate income, meaningful work, real participation in decision-making and shaping the world, and culture and cultural respect.
He said Government funding for services provided by the community and voluntary sector should be substantially increased, for administration costs within the sector, technical support and resourcing for participation.