Top-up payments - Charities must be transparent

The sense of public outrage at the latest top-up disclosures in relation to the Central Remedial Clinic (CRC) is matched only by the public incredulity that such a thing could be allowed to happen.

Between 1998 and 2011, almost three-quarters of €27.8m donated to the charity wing of CRC was not sent to the clinic.

Taoiseach Enda Kenny described this controversy as unacceptable in any circumstances. People had a right to expect that the money donated was going for the facilities and services used by the children who attend the CRC, rather than being diverted into top-up payments on the salaries of staff members.