The non-profit sector in Ireland is pretty crowded and there is a lot of duplication, which means a waste of scare resources. There is now much competition when pursuing donations whether from private sources or otherwise.
Each charity has its own management structure, directors, policy teams, managers, treasurer, secretary and all other costs associated with any organisation, such as rent, insurance, light and heat.
Where once Amnesty Ireland was unique in its campaign for the rights of political prisoners, this can no longer be said to be the case. Amnesty now, in its insatiable demands for funds, competes for precious donations with other organisations many of which, unlike Amnesty, provide real assistance on the ground and not just recycled tweets. And unlike Amnesty, many of these organisations cannot call upon big US donors to fill their coffers.
As a result of this, the organisations which offer real help on the ground suffer and have to cut back their services.
Furthermore, the State is subsidising this waste of resources with tax rebates for groups such as the Amnesty Foundation. The Revenue Commissioners has granted tax status to this organisation and over 8,000 charities for tax-relief purposes and more are registered with the Charities Regulatory Authority.
The reality is that many charities really should have been wound up once their original goal was achieved or when their original goal became seemingly unfashionable such as Amnesty’s effective abandonment of political prisoners.
Amnesty International Ireland Exposed 