New legislation to regulate 'chuggers'

Charity collectors will soon need a garda permit to stop pedestrians and ask for donations.

As it stands such collectors - dubbed 'charity muggers' or 'chuggers' - are unregulated but that is set to change under the new Charities Bill.

An independent charity monitoring group is also due to be up and running by the end of the year.

Executive Director of Irish Charities Tax Research Sheila Nordon said the public can report to the group.

"The idea is that a member of the public who is not happy with the way a charity responded (to a complaint) can escalate that complaint to the monitoring group who will look into it," Ms Nordon said.