Vol. 456 No. 8
57 Mr. Nealon asked the Minister for Justice if her attention has been drawn to the difficulties created in towns like Sligo for local charities with other organisations with national permits coming in for collections in the town; and if she accepts the view that the consent of Gardaí in the area should always be required before a collection is taken up irrespective of national permits; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [14763/95]
The law in relation to collection of money from the public by means of collections in the public streets or by collections in the course of house-to-house visits is set out in the Street and House to House Collections Act, 1962. The Act prohibits "collections" without a permit issued under the Act. Section 6 of the Act provides that the Garda Chief Superintendent for any locality is the statutory authority for the issue of a collection permit authorising the holding of a collection in that locality. To collect "nation-wide", the organisation concerned must apply separately to all 23 Chief Superintendents in charge of Garda divisions.
As the Deputy will be aware, in 1989, the Minister for Justice appointed a Committee "to investigate the adequacy of the existing statutory controls over fund-raising activities for charitable etc. purposes and to make recommendations for any changes considered necessary having regard, in particular, to the need to justify any consequential costs as well as any extra interference with individual freedoms". The Committee, under the Chairmanship of Mr. Justice Declan Costello, reported to the Minister in 1990 recommending, inter alia, that the 1962 Act, and the regulations made thereunder, needed to be amended in a number of ways.
