Why do we Irish favour so-called light-touch regulation, or none at all?

THREE of us who work in the community and voluntary sector went to Belfast the other night to meet a group that runs charities in Northern Ireland and to brief them about happenings in our sector in the Republic.

The group was friendly and welcoming, and interested in the crisis that has engulfed the charity sector in Ireland — how the behaviour of a few people has caused a widespread problem of trust, and how easy it is to do reputational damage.

I could see them looking at us with curiosity, as if to say ‘what’s wrong with you people? How could you let this happen?’ They were taken aback that in the Republic legislation had been passed in 2009, and nothing further had been done about it until a month ago.