Charity transparency - Who does your money go to?

It is time to clear up the mess engulfing the Irish charities industry.

Hot on the heels of the scandal of the €700,000 golden handshake for the Central Remedial Clinic’s former chief executive, a jaundiced public is now being treated to a bitter row between Justice Minister Alan Shatter and the Rehab Group following his threat to scrap its lottery scheme.

By no means is it an exaggeration to describe the bewildering array of charities operating in this country as an ‘industry’. As recent reports showed, an unknown number of chief executives get exorbitant salaries and fat pensions on a scale normally associated with bosses in the private sector.