Penal Reform Trust needs to include ex-prisoners, not exclude them

We the Board of the Irish Penal Reform Trust, Ireland’s leading penal reform NGO, write to express our serious and collective concern in respect to s.55 Charities Act 2009.

On October 15, 2014, the board lost an esteemed colleague, forced to resign due to the commencement of this section. Section 55 provides that our former colleague should “cease to be qualified for, and shall cease to hold, the position of charity trustee of a charitable organisation” because he was, in a former life, convicted on indictment of a criminal offence.

Not only does this reprehensible provision operate to prevent him from sitting on our charitable Board, s.56 also creates a criminal offence where a person “acts or purports to act” as a charitable trustee at a time where s.55 has operated to disqualify him.