Minister publishes report on charities, including pay levels
A major new report on Irish non-profits has been published today by the Minister for Public Expenditure Paschal Donohoe.
Using public data derived from more than 8,000 non-profit company reports for 2013, 2014 and 2015 in Ireland, Benefacts has identified some key trends in the sector.
The report finds that charities employ almost 150,000 people, turn over nearly €11bn annually and account for 8% of all current Exchequer expenditure.
"The aim of this project is to provide greater transparency regarding who gets what from where," Mr Donohoe told Newstalk Breakfast.
The report, which claims to be the most comprehensive ever analysis of Ireland's non-profit sector, claims that just over 1% of people working in charities are paid more than €70,000.
Benefacts managing director Patricia Quinn says the sector has developed a reputation which may be "unfair".
She said: "How has this sector got a reputation for paying people so much? Well maybe people are looking at a very, very small number of household names and they are saying 'if it's true of them, it must be true of everybody'.
"And so Benefacts' big, big, big idea is to say 'well let's hear more about everybody'. Let's give people information about the entire sector."
