Jury is out on much-heralded charities regulator after slow start

It does not reflect well on the organisation that, according to Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald, its active role in tackling governance issues at Console only began following revelations in an RTÉ programme last week Photo: Tom Burke

Shane Phelan

The Charities Regulatory Authority has shipped a lot of flak in recent days over the Console scandal. Opposition TDs in particular have been critical of the relatively new body, saying it should have taken a more proactive role in ensuring good governance and financial practices at the suicide charity.

They have a very valid point and the jury is very much out on how effective the watchdog will ultimately be.

Set up in the wake of persistent concerns over transparency in the charity sector, much was promised when the regulator came into being in October 2014.

So it does not reflect well on the organisation that, according to Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald, its active role in tackling governance issues at Console only began following revelations in an RTÉ programme last week.

Indeed the spending and governance issues identified at Console are exactly the sort of problems it was envisaged the regulator would tackle.

It is also telling that the complaint which sparked the garda probe into goings on at Console came from the HSE, which began an audit of the charity almost a year ago, and not from the regulator.

But there is another side to this story too. In its defence, it can be argued that the watchdog has been hamstrung since its inception, both in the area of resources and the scope and ambition of its powers.

The regulator's powers are being introduced on a phased basis and it is not yet able to perform all of the functions envisaged for it in the Charities Acts.

In other words, it is a work in progress. Early last year, for example, the regulator had 24 complaints on its desk, but said at the time it did not have the powers or the resources to investigate them. All it could do at the time was log the complaints.

Thankfully things have moved on since then and the regulator can now mount investigations.

However, that has not been its main priority.

Instead it has been focused on developing a new Register of Charities, a process which did not run as smoothly as expected, requiring a one-year extension to the registration period.

As a spokesman put it yesterday: "Since its establishment, the initial priority has been on the development of the register with a view to underpinning and supporting the investigatory and enforcement functions at a later stage."

But while it has investigative powers now, it has no role in probing fraud or any remit to carry out that type of investigation.