A message to our donors

We are shocked at the actions of the former CRC board as revealed at the Oireachtas public accounts committee yesterday and we condemn the use of fundraised income to pay for a massive and secret pension deal to the former CEO there. We condemn these actions unequivocally as a fundamental breach of the trust placed in the board of CRC by the many people who have supported the charity and its vital work for disabled people. We support the work of the Public Accounts Committee and the HSE in their continuing investigation of the activities of the former Board of the CRC.  We want to assure you, our supporters and donors, that we operate to the  highest standards of governance and have signed up to voluntary codes of practice, such as the Fundraising Codes of Practice.We are also a company and are therefore required to be compliant with company law. It is now urgent that the Government appoint the Charities Regulator which has been promised for so long. As one of the charities which has lobbied for a Regulator for many years, we are now calling on the Government to provide the resources necessary to implement the Charities Act in full and with speed. The Irish Cancer Society, the national cancer charity, is virtually 100 percent reliant on you, the public and the funds which you so generously give us to run our services. These include the free night nursing service for patients dying at home; major investment in cancer research; the Cancer Information Service, on the phone, online and in 12 Daffodil Centres nationwide; a volunteer driver service (Care2Drive); a financial aid service; patient support services and support to many local cancer support groups and services across Ireland. We cannot run the services we do, or invest in important cancer research, and save lives, without your support. The many thousands of cancer patients and families who use these services will suffer if we don’t provide them. We have taken on this critical role, and we ask for your continued support to provide it. Thank you.