MOVES to combat abuses by people claiming to raise money for charity are to be recommended to the Government by an official advisory group set up yesterday.
The group will also examine complaints by charities that they are being treated unfairly compared to the National Lottery and it will recommend ways of making charities more accountable to the public.
The group was set up by the Minister of State for Justice, Ms Joan Burton, who said she wants a report by the end of April so "that legislation can be brought before the Oireachtas in the autumn.
Its members include Mr Bill Cleary, of the Society of St Vincent de Paul Mr Roger Acton, of the Disability Federation of Ireland, and Ms Sarah Gormley of the National Parents' Council.
At a press conference, Ms Burton listed a number of specific areas of concern including
. Open bucket collections
. Fund raisers who take a very high proportion of what is collected in fees and expenses
. Types of fund raising in which a charity lends its name to an event but receives very little of the proceeds
. Charities which appear, collect a lot of money and disappear.
Referring to lotteries, Ms Burton said changes in the laws governing lotteries run by charities were a matter for the Department of Finance but she would present any views proposed by the group.
Charities have complained about the £10,000 limit on prizes they can offer in lotteries and about stringent regulations on what they have to report to the Garda. Ms Burton said she was sympathetic to their view and that the regulations had been made a long time ago.
On the issue of making charities accountable, Ms Burton said many of the larger ones were companies and were already providing a good deal of information. Her aim was to bring about a situation in which "people who donate to charities will have knowledge of and confidence in, the ultimate destination of money they have given". Some account ability measures might be n eluded in a code of practice rather than in legislation, she added.
The advisory committee is likely to draw heavily on the Costello Report, published in 1990, and containing the views of an official committee headed by Mr Justice Declan Costello.
Its recommendations included
. That organisations raising funds for charitable purposes should have to register with a supervisory authority except, for small local groups and priests brothers and sisters raising money for religious purposes
That each registered organisation should file an annual report, and accounts and should make them available for inspection by the public
. That selling lines on the street or house to house should be banned
. That selling raffle tickets on the street should be banned
. That payments to collectors, should be banned
. That professional fund raisers should be obliged to register with a supervisory authority and to deposit a certain amount of money in the High Court.