Consultative Process To Be Undertaken To Implement Charities Act

Fine Gael Senator for Dublin South East, Catherine Noone, has today welcomed the announcement by the Minister for Justice, Alan Shatter TD, that there would be a consultative process undertaken in the coming months in order to facilitate the implementation of the Charities Act 2009.

She said: "Up until now, the Charities Act has laid dormant because of a need for resources to be reallocated in order to facilitate its proper functioning. As such, I am delighted with this news from the Minister, which means that we are on track to implement this Act in the coming months.

"A number of people have contacted me in relation to so called chuggers and the annoyance they cause on streets. Indeed, it was recently raised and acknowledged the by Joint Policing Committee that chugging is a real problem on Dublin streets.

"It negatively impacts tourist’s views of Dublin, it negatively impacts shoppers in Dublin and it negatively impacts the people who are being harassed on their way to and from their workplace. As such, I propose that we take the time to consider how we can make these practices better. The voluntary code of conduct regarding street fundraising is clearly not enough as people still feel pestered by these practices.

"I believe that legislation can help improve the situation for members of the public without negatively impacting the bottom lines of charities. The legislation needs to look at areas such as the number of fundraisers allowed on any given street and a limit to how long the fundraisers can follow a person for. These steps would be practical without intruding on a charity’s need to fundraise."

(CD/GK)