Charity regulation must be seen to be tough, fair and transparent

DEAR Minister Shatter,

Thousands of people are employed, either as workers or as volunteers, in the sector I work in. It’s one of the largest sectors in the country, and makes a huge and measurable contribution to the economy of Ireland. If my sector was one employer it could well be the largest employer in Ireland.

We call it the community and voluntary sector, others the charity sector. It doesn’t just employ people, it carries out critically important tasks. In many other countries, especially in the developing world, these tasks wouldn’t fall to charities. That’s because in those countries people are seen as having basic rights, and basic rights should never be dependent on charity.

Sooner or later the rights of, for instance, people with a disability will have to be recognised in a different way. That means that sooner or later the State will have to recognise that it cannot hive off its obligations to organisations that depend on charitable giving to carry out basic functions.

But right now we live in a culture where the needs of elderly and infirm people, the needs of people with a disability, the needs of homeless people, and many others — especially their need for, and right to, human dignity — cannot be met without the work of my sector.

That places a huge responsibility on us. And also right now there’s a huge cloud over the sector. This newspaper published an editorial last week in which it referred to “feral greed”, and that hit the nail on the head. The disgusting behaviour of a few — and all of us hope it is just a few — has been a gross betrayal of the work and commitment of thousands.

I work with them, day in and day out. The undermining of good work has done immense damage to the morale of decent and committed people, and it has created real fear in the hearts of people who depend on the services my sector provides.

It’s a complex sector. Some of the organisations within it are tiny, others are large. The larger organisations can stand comparison with many other large employers throughout the economy and society. But we all have one thing in common — we depend utterly on trust.

The people who support our work — whether that be through individual donations, corporate donations, or as taxpayers — are absolutely entitled to know that their money is being spent where it should be, and that it is being managed wisely and well and properly accounted for.

That trust has been profoundly damaged. As things stand, it falls to you, as Minister for Justice and Equality, to repair it.

I saw at the weekend that you have decided to take the necessary steps to put the Charities Act, which was originally passed in 2009, into operation. That’s both overdue and welcome. But, with respect, it has to be done right. According to the statement you issued at the weekend, it seems you’re about to appoint someone as Charity Regulator — in effect the first chief executive of the new Charity Authority — from within existing resources.

I presume that means a civil servant. No disrespect, but if it is your intention to do this job on the cheap that’s a terrible mistake.

The Charities Act that you’re about to commence provides for the setting up of a Charities Regulatory Authority. The first four functions of that authority, as spelled out in the act, will, roughly speaking, be these: to increase public trust in the management of charities; to promote compliance by charity trustees with their duties; to promote the effective use of the resources charities; and to ensure their accountability to donors, to people who benefit from their services, and to the public.

As I said, that’s a big job. The new authority will have to build a huge database, and gather an awful lot of information. It will have to set standards — in an area where standards have been assumed — and enforce them. It will have to have the resources to insist on transparency and end the secrecy that surrounds some aspects of the operations of certain charities — including the secrecy about management pay levels.

It will have to be able to initiate investigations, respond to public concerns, and enforce compliance. It will need a profile of its own, and it must run its own operations behind an open door.

In other words, if charity regulation is to be effective it will require the same authority and independence as the Comptroller and Auditor General, or HIQA, or one of the respected Ombudsmen, like Emily Logan.

That’s not an “own resources” job. It might require a budget of several million a year — the cost of a couple of miles of motorway, say — and it will certainly require leadership that can be recognised from the outset.

So when you say, as you said in your statement at the weekend, that you intend to appoint an interim chief executive, I really do hope it’s interim — for a limited time and for very specific purposes. I recognise that the act gives you the power to appoint the first CEO of the authority, but the primary task of that person should be to run an open and transparent public competition to find a permanent CEO who will carry real authority.

LEST there be any misunderstanding, by the way, I should make it clear that I don’t believe that post should be filled by anyone working in the sector now. Ireland’s charity regulator must be entirely free of conflicts of interest — nothing else makes any sense.

The act specifies that the authority to which the regulator will report should have a balanced representation, including some people with direct experience of the sector, but true independence requires that the CEO should come from outside.

This might seem like a small point, but I promise you that it’s fundamental. I believe we’re all in the debt of the Public Accounts Committee for the work they have done in uncovering some of the greed and dishonesty in the sector. That work has required independence of mind and a willingness to confront some really unpalatable truths.

But uncovering it and rooting it out are two different things. Most of us in our sector are proud of the work we do — we want to be proud of the sector we work in as well. I’ve met so many people over the past few days who are genuinely shocked and fearful, afraid to believe that what has been uncovered in the CRC is limited to the management and governance of that brilliant organisation.

Corruption has been found, sadly, in different walks of Irish life. We cannot, any of us, stand by if there is even a hint of it in our sector. That’s why the responsibility you have now is heavy. All of us want you to fight hard to restore trust, at whatever cost. And we’ll support you every inch of the way. But please, minister, start as you mean to go on. Give us a form of regulation that will be tough, fair, and as transparent and open as you have every right to expect us to be.