Call for early appointment of Charities Regulator

The Irish Cancer Society has called on the Government to move to appoint a Charities Regulator as soon as possible, saying it is essential to restore public trust in charities and to ensure that the vital services provided by charities are not undermined by an erosion of public confidence.

CEO John McCormack said that while many charities, including the Irish Cancer Society, operate to the highest standards of governance and have signed up to voluntary codes of practice, such as the Fundraising Codes of Practice, this is now not enough to restore the public trust which has been broken by recent scandals.

“We have reached the end of the road as far as self-regulation is concerned in the charity world and it is 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 in full the legislation necessary as soon as possible to restore public confidence in how charities operate”, he said.

Mr McCormack said that trust, once broken, is very difficult to rebuild and what the public and the charity sector needs is a figure in whom the public can have confidence, who is known to be the person who holds the sector accountable for operating to the highest standards of good governance and transparency, who communicates, via the media, with the public, and who is the source of key public information on charities.

The Irish Cancer Society, the national cancer charity, is virtually 100 percent reliant on public fundraising to run its services, which includes the free night nursing service for patients dying at home; major investment in cancer research; the Cancer Information Service, on the phone on Freefone 1800 200 700, online and in 12 Daffodil Centres nationwide; a volunteer driver service called Care to Drive; 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 without public support and the many thousands of cancer patients and families who use these services simply would not have them if we didn’t provide them," said Mr McCormack. "We have taken on this critical role, and it is now time for the Government to do its part to ensure that the public trust which is necessary to maintain vital services is restored as soon as possible."