Charities Act 2009

PART 1 Preliminary and General

1. Short title and commencement.

1.— (1) This Act may be cited as the Charities Act 2009.

(2) This Act shall come into operation on such day or days as the Minister may appoint by order or orders either generally or with reference to any particular purpose or provision and different days may be so appointed for different purposes or provisions, and for the repeal of different provisions of the Charities Act 1961 effected by section 11.

2. Interpretation.

2.— (1) In this Act—

“Act of 1962” means the Street and House to House Collections Act 1962;

“Act of 1998” means the Education Act 1998;

“Act of 2001” means the Criminal Justice (Theft and Fraud Offences) Act 2001;

F1[“Act of 2014”means the Companies Act 2014;]

F1[“authorised officer”has the meaning assigned to it bysection 68A(1);]

“Authority” has the meaning assigned to it by section 13;

F1[“balance sheet total”in relation to a charitable organisation, means the aggregate of the amounts shown as assets in the organisation’s balance sheet;]

“body” includes, in relation to a trust in respect of which there is only one trustee, that trustee;

“charitable gift” means a gift for charitable purposes;

“charitable organisation” means—

(a) the trustees of a charitable trust, or

(b) a body corporate or an unincorporated body of persons—

(i) that promotes a charitable purpose only,

(ii) that, under its constitution, is required to apply all of its property (both real and personal) in furtherance of that purpose, except for moneys expended—

(I) in the operation and maintenance of the body, including moneys paid in remuneration and superannuation of members of the staff of the body, and

(II) in the case of a religious organisation or community, on accommodation and care of members of the organisation or community,

and

(iii) none of the property of which is payable to the members of the body other than in accordance with F2[Part 6A],

but shall not include an excluded body;

“charitable purpose” shall be construed in accordance with section 3;

“charitable trust” means a trust—

(a) established for a charitable purpose only,

(b) established under a deed of trust that requires the trustees of the trust to apply all of the property (both real and personal) of the trust in furtherance of that purpose except for moneys expended in the management of the trust, and

(c) none of the property of which is payable to the trustees of the trust other than in accordance with F2[Part 6A];

F2[“charity trustee”includes—

(a) in the case of a charitable organisation that is a company—

(i) any director of the company,

(i) any other person in accordance with whose directions or instructions the directors of the company are accustomed to act, unless the directors are accustomed so to act by reason only that they do so on advice given by the person in a professional capacity, and

(iii) any other person who occupies the position of director of the company but who has not been formally appointed as such, unless the person only gives advice in a professional capacity to the company or any directors of it,

but does not include a person who is the company secretary, unless he or she is also a person referred to insubparagraph (i),(ii)or(iii),

(b) in the case of a charitable organisation that is a body corporate (other than a company) or an unincorporated body of persons—

(i) any person who, in relation to that body, is—

(I) a member of the board, or

(II) a member of the governing body,

(ii) any other person in accordance with whose directions or instructions a person referred to insubparagraph (i)is accustomed to act, unless such person is accustomed so to act by reason only that they do so on advice given by that person in a professional capacity, and

(iii) any other person who occupies the position of member of the board or member of the governing body but who has not been formally appointed as such, unless the person only gives advice in a professional capacity to the charitable organisation or any members of the board or members of the governing body,

but does not include a person who performs the functions of a secretary to the board or to the governing body, unless he or she is also a person referred to insubparagraph (i),(ii)or(iii), and

(c) in the case of a charitable trust to whichsection 54A(2)applies, the body corporate and the directors of that body corporate,

and references to a charity trustee of a charitable organisation shall be construed as including references to a trustee of a charitable trust;]

“chief executive” has the meaning assigned to it by section 19;

“company” means a company established under the Companies Acts;

“constitution” means the rules (whether in writing or not) governing the administration and control of a charitable organisation and that regulate its activities, and includes—

(a) in the case of a charitable organisation consisting of trustees of a charitable trust, the deed of trust establishing the charitable trust,

F2[(b) in the case of a charitable organisation that is a company, the constitution (within the meaning of section 2(1) of the Act of 2014),]

(c) in the case of a charitable organisation that is a body corporate other than a company, the charter, statute or other like instrument by which it is established, and

(d) in the case of a charitable organisation that is an unincorporated body of persons, the rules of the body,

but does not include any enactment or rule of law applicable to the carrying on of the activities of the organisation;

“dissolved body” has the meaning assigned to it by section 81;

“education body” means—

F3[(a) an education and training board,]

(b) a recognised school within the meaning of the Act of 1998,

(c) a management committee established for the purposes of section 37 of the Act of 1998,

(d) a parents’ association established in accordance with section 26 of the Act of 1998,

(e) a student council established in accordance with section 27 of the Act of 1998, F1[or]

F4[(f) a designated institution of higher education within the meaning of the Higher Education Authority Act 2022 that falls under paragraph (a) of section 53(1)F2[of that Act;]]

(g) F5[…]

“EEA Agreement” has the same meaning as it has in the European Communities (Amendment) Act 1993;

“EEA state” means—

(a) a member state of the European Communities (other than the State), or

(b) a state (other than a member state of the European Communities) that is a contracting party to the EEA Agreement;

“establishment day” shall be construed in accordance with section 12;

“excluded body” means—

(a) a political party, or a body that promotes a political party or candidate,

(b) a body that promotes a political cause, unless the promotion of that cause relates directly to the advancement of the charitable purposes of the body,

(c) an approved body of persons within the meaning of section 235 of the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997,

(d) a trade union or a representative body of employers,

(e) a chamber of commerce, or

(f) a body that promotes purposes that are—

(i) unlawful,

(ii) contrary to public morality,

(iii) contrary to public policy,

(iv) in support of terrorism or terrorist activities, whether in the State or outside the State, or

(v) for the benefit of an organisation, membership of which is unlawful;

F1[“insolvency arrangement”has the same meaning as it has in the Personal Insolvency Act 2012;]

“judicial office in the Superior Courts” means the office of judge of the High Court F6[, the office of judge of the Court of Appeal] or the office of judge of the Supreme Court;

“local authority” has the same meaning as it has in the Local Government Act 2001;

“material interest” shall be construed in accordance with section 2(3) of the Ethics in Public Office Act 1995;

F1[“member of the charitable organisation”means—

(a) in the case of a charitable organisation that is a company, a member of the company within the meaning of section 168 of the Act of 2014, or

(b) in the case of a charitable organisation that is a body corporate (other than a company) or an unincorporated body of persons, a person who is entitled to appoint, nominate or vote for the appointment of a person as a charity trustee of that organisation;]

“Minister” means the Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs;

“personal connection” shall be construed in accordance with subsection (2);

“prescribed” means prescribed by regulations made by the Minister;

“public benefit” shall be construed in accordance with section 3;

“record” includes, in addition to any record in writing—

(a) a plan, chart, map, drawing, diagram, pictorial or graphic image,

(b) a disc, tape, soundtrack or other device in which information, sounds or signals are embodied so as to be capable (with or without the aid of some other instrument) of being reproduced in legible or audible form,

(c) a film, tape or other device in which visual images are embodied so as to be capable (with or without the aid of some other instrument) of being reproduced in visual form, and

(d) a photograph;

“register” has the meaning assigned to it by section 39, and “registered” shall be construed accordingly;

“registered charitable organisation” means—

(a) a charitable organisation that is registered in the register, or

(b) a charitable organisation that, by virtue of section 40, is deemed to be registered in the register;

“registration number” has the meaning assigned to it by F2[section 39(7)(e)or40(6)(e), as the case may be;]

F1[“removal notice”has the meaning assigned to it bysection 44A(5)(b);]

F1[“specified clause”has the meaning assigned to it bysection 42A(8);]

“Tribunal” has the meaning assigned to it by section 75.

(2) (a) For the purposes of this Act—

F7[(i) a person is connected with an individual if that person is a child, step-child, parent, step-parent, brother, sister, spouse, civil partner, cohabitant, grandparent or grandchild of the individual or a child of the individual’s civil partner or cohabitant,]

(ii) a person, in his or her capacity as a trustee of a trust, is connected with an individual if that individual, or any of that individual’s children, or any body corporate that that individual controls is a beneficiary of the trust,

(iii) a person is connected with any person with whom he or she is in partnership,

(iv) a person is connected with any person by whom he or she is employed under a contract of service,

(v) a body corporate is connected with another person if that person has control of it or if that person and persons connected with that person together have control of it, and

(vi) any two or more persons acting together to secure or exercise control of a body corporate shall be treated in relation to that body corporate as connected with one another and with any person acting on the directions of any of them to secure or exercise control of the body corporate.

F7[(b) In this subsection—

“Act of 2010”means the Civil Partnership and Certain Rights and Obligations of Cohabitants Act 2010;

“civil partner”means a person in a civil partnership or legal relationship to which section 3 of the Act of 2010 applies;

“cohabitant”means a cohabitant within the meaning of section 172(1) of the Act of 2010;

“control”has the meaning assigned to it by section 11 of the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997.]

3. Charitable purpose.

3.— (1) For the purposes of this Act each of the following shall, subject to subsection (2), be a charitable purpose:

(a) the prevention or relief of poverty or economic hardship;

(b) the advancement of education;

(c) the advancement of religion;

(d) any other purpose that is of benefit to the community.

(2) A purpose shall not be a charitable purpose unless it is of public benefit.

(3) Subject to subsection (4), a gift shall not be of public benefit unless—

(a) it is intended to benefit the public or a section of the public, and

(b) in a case where it confers a benefit on a person other than in his or her capacity as a member of the public or a section of the public, any such benefit is reasonable in all of the circumstances, and is ancillary to, and necessary, for the furtherance of the public benefit.

(4) It shall be presumed, unless the contrary is proved, that a gift for the advancement of religion is of public benefit.

(5) The Authority shall not make a determination that a gift for the advancement of religion is not of public benefit without the consent of the Attorney General.

(6) A charitable gift for the purpose of the advancement of religion shall have effect, and the terms upon which it is given shall be construed, in accordance with the laws, canons, ordinances and tenets of the religion concerned.

(7) In determining whether a gift is of public benefit or not, account shall be taken of—

(a) any limitation imposed by the donor of the gift on the class of persons who may benefit from the gift and whether or not such limitation is justified and reasonable, having regard to the nature of the purpose of the gift, and

(b) the amount of any charge payable for any service provided in furtherance of the purpose for which the gift is given and whether it is likely to limit the number of persons or classes of person who will benefit from the gift.

(8) A limitation referred to in subsection (7) shall not be justified and reasonable if all of the intended beneficiaries of the gift or a significant number of them have a personal connection with the donor of the gift.

(9) There shall be no appeal to the Tribunal from a determination of the Authority to which subsection (5) applies.

(10) For the purposes of this section, a gift is not a gift for the advancement of religion if it is made to or for the benefit of an organisation or cult—

(a) the principal object of which is the making of profit, or

(b) that employs oppressive psychological manipulation—

(i) of its followers, or

(ii) for the purpose of gaining new followers.

(11) In this section “purpose that is of benefit to the community” includes—

(a) the advancement of community welfare including the relief of those in need by reason of youth, age, ill-health, or disability,

(b) the advancement of community development, including rural or urban regeneration,

(c) the promotion of civic responsibility or voluntary work,

(d) the promotion of health, including the prevention or relief of sickness, disease or human suffering,

(e) the advancement of conflict resolution or reconciliation,

(f) the promotion of religious or racial harmony and harmonious community relations,

(g) the protection of the natural environment,

(h) the advancement of environmental sustainability,

(i) the advancement of the efficient and effective use of the property of charitable organisations,

(j) the prevention or relief of suffering of animals,

(k) the advancement of the arts, culture, heritage or sciences, and

(l) the integration of those who are disadvantaged, and the promotion of their full participation, in society.

4. Orders and regulations.

4.— (1) The Minister may by regulations provide for any matter referred to in this Act as prescribed or to be prescribed.

(2) Without prejudice to any provision of this Act, regulations under this section may contain such incidental, supplementary and consequential, provisions as appear to the Minister to be necessary or expedient for the purposes of the regulations.

(3) Every order (other than an order under section 1(2) or 12) and regulation made by the Minister under this Act shall be laid before each House of the Oireachtas as soon as may be after it is made and, if a resolution annulling the order or regulation is passed by either such House within the next 21 days on which that House sits after the order or regulation is laid before it, the order or regulation shall be annulled accordingly, but without prejudice to the validity of anything previously done thereunder.

5. Expenses.

5.— The expenses incurred by the Minister in the administration of this Act shall, to such extent as may be sanctioned by the Minister for Finance, be paid out of moneys provided by the Oireachtas.

6. Review of operation of Act.

6.— The Minister shall—

(a) not later than 5 years after the establishment day, commence a review of the operation of this Act, and

(b) not later than 12 months after the expiration of the said 5 years, make a report to each House of the Oireachtas of his or her findings and conclusions resulting from that review.

7. Exemption from liability to pay tax.

7.— (1) Nothing in this Act shall operate to affect the law in relation to the levying or collection of any tax or the determination of eligibility for exemption from liability to pay any tax.

(2) The Revenue Commissioners shall not be bound by a determination of the Authority as to whether a purpose is of public benefit or not in the performance by them of any function under or in connection with—

(a) section 207, 208 or 609 of the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997,

(b) section 17 or 76 of the Capital Acquisitions Tax Consolidation Act 2003, or

(c) section 82 of the Stamp Duties Consolidation Act 1999.

8. Act not to apply to certain trusts.

8.— This Act shall not apply to a trust the only property of which consists of—

(a) shares in a qualifying company established for the purposes of section 110 of the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997,

(b) shares in a company whose business consists solely of the leasing of plant and machinery,

(c) dividends paid in respect of such shares, being dividends that are not retained as part of the property of the trust for more than 12 months, or

(d) any other distribution of cash or assets made in respect of such shares, being cash or assets that are not retained as part of the property of the trust for more than 12 months.

9. Service of documents.