Statement: Positive Action, The Wheel reacts to governance failures at advocacy group

The Wheel, a national body representing 1,000 charities, today responded to media reports of alleged governance failures at the advocacy group Positive Action, by calling on all Irish charities to conform to the highest standards of good governance.

Commenting on the reports, Ivan Cooper, Director of Advocacy at The Wheel said: “These revelations point to the consequences of a lack of sufficient governance controls at Positive Action. However, over the past year there has been significant progress made towards ensuring that Ireland’s 8,500 charities apply the highest standards of governance and management.”

Mr Cooper added that the commencement of the Charities Regulatory Authority on 16 October was a watershed moment for charities. “There is now a publicly available register of charities in Ireland which will provide people with clear information about what charities do, and how they raise and spend their funds. This register will be added to in the coming months, and from next year all charities will be expected to file annual activity reports with the Regulator,” said Mr Cooper

“In the meantime, we are calling on all Irish charities to adopt the Governance Code for Community and Voluntary Organisations and for larger charities to comply with the Standard of Recommended Practice (SORP) accounting standards,” said Mr Cooper.

Mr Cooper added that charities also have a duty to make information about their activities and finances available to the public by publishing their annual accounts and information about the nature of their work on their websites.

He concluded that it is important to acknowledge that, despite the alleged failures, Positive Action made a positive contribution to the lives many women: “We must not lose sight of the fact that this group was set up to support and give a voice to a group of women who are suffering greatly because of failures in our health service. Over the past 20 years the organisation fought hard on behalf of these women, and it is important to ensure that they continue to be supported and heard,” said Mr Cooper.

Ivan Cooper, Director of Advocacy at The Wheel is available for interview. Please contact Gert Ackermann on Tel: 086 176 9287 or email gert@wheel.ie.

The Wheel is a national organisation that represents and supports community, voluntary and charitable organisations in Ireland. Founded in 1999, we currently have around 1,000 members across Ireland, reflecting the enormous scope and scale of this vibrant and diverse sector. See www.wheel.ie