Tough rules, rigidly enforced: a charities manifesto

FOLLOWING the recent slew of scandals swirling around the Irish charities sector, a lawyer of my acquaintance remarked: ‘If Hitler had explained in 1939 that Germany had invaded Poland for charity, he might have been excused in Ireland.’ My world-weary friend’s satire was not to trivialise the Nazi regime’s genocide, but to highlight how so much has been skimmed and stolen for so long in Ireland – all in the name of charity.

And from those scandals, the concept of ‘charity’ (definition: the voluntary giving of help) has been devalued, although at the last count, it was still worth more than €10bn a year. Highly paid and skilled public relations professionals often refer to their clients as the ‘not-for-profit sector’ – with the subliminal message that advocating for charity is next to godliness. But there is a hierarchy of dishonour, and Console, the suicide bereavement charity and its founder Paul Kelly, a winner of the People of the Year Award in 2014, is currently at the top.

And who can forget the seismic outrage over executive pay and pensions in Rehab and the Central Remedial Clinic?

Since then, there has been a steady drip of suspicion and skimming in a series of charities. Last week, this newspaper revealed how Barbara O’Connell, the chief executive of Acquired Brain Injury Ireland, was granted a €10,000 annual allowance for her work with another charity, the Anvers Housing Association. Mrs O’Connell is on the board of the Charities Regulatory Authority watchdog

and is a former board member of The Wheel, an umbrella organisation dedicated to transparency and best practice in charities. In 2012 (the last year for which figures are available), the State ponied up some €6bn of the €10.4bn income shared by not-for-profits.

But donations are said to have slumped after the Rehab and CRC controversies.

After the Console outrage, the Tánaiste hastily signed an order to give more powers to the charities regulator, and they are due to come into effect next month. Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald said her officials were also examining current legislation to determine whether any other provisions were necessary.

The latest tightening-up of the loose regulation for charities comes after a history of official indolence and indifference. For decades, looking the other way allowed governments outsource their responsibilities to the ‘not-for-profits’.

There is minimal regulation and what there is, is artfully crafted so that politicians can blame charities if another potential embarrassment arises. But these sickening scandals in the charities sector are unlikely ever to be unearthed by an enthusiastic government urging action from zealous officials.

RTÉ’s Prime Time Investigates exposé on Console and the scandalous behaviour of Paul Kelly was the national broadcaster dutifully fulfilling its role. And this newspaper’s digging into shady goings-on in national charities was a public service that governments never want to acknowledge. Yet it has to be emphasised that the vast majority of people involved in charity run admirable organisations. And who could forget those who selflessly serve the physically and mentally disabled with minimal help from the State?

These are people whose labours have allowed the Government abdicate its obligations to those whose needs it ignores. Charity begins at home, where the Government’s heart should be, but it must be backed up by tough regulations, rigidly enforced.