Two-fifths not compliant

More than two fifths of Ireland’s 8,034 charities have failed to comply with their legal obligation to register their details with the Charities regulatory authority by the april 16 deadline set by the Government.

and Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald has warned that charities that fail to comply with their legal obligations will face a major clampdown by the end of the year.

the minister noted that less than half of Irish charities – some 3,788 or 47% of the total – had declared their information on the register complete by the deadline of april 16.

Since then the numbers have now increased to 4,592, or 57% of the overall total.

Ms Fitzgerald was responding to a query from Minister John halligan of the Independent alliance. the minister warned non-compliant charities, saying: ‘they have missed a statutory deadline which could potentially lead to de-registration of their charitable status.’

She told Mr halligan: ‘the regulator is about to begin a final phase of contacting these charities in the coming weeks to establish if they are still operating.’

and Ms Fitzgerald warned non-compliant charities that they would be ‘‘subject to enforcement action later in the year and by not completing their details for the public register are putting their organisation at risk of financial and reputational damage.’