LABOUR LEADER IVANA Bacik has written to Tánaiste Simon Harris calling on him to publicly withdraw his recent remarks about the place of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in Ireland.

Speaking at a business breakfast in Tullamore last week, Harris said recent developments have highlighted the need for greater scrutiny and accountability over the use of public money allocated to NGOs.

He said the State is “handing out a lot of taxpayers’ money to external organisations”, many of which do “incredible work”.

‘Lecturing citizens’ 

“But there have been a couple of warning signs in the last few weeks that say we need to have a much closer look at what’s happening with public money when it goes out to organisations that are not the government,” the Tánaiste continued.

He also commented on a recent ad on consent produced by the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre, which was removed after intervention by Justice Minister Jim O’Callaghan, depicted a child shown as uncomfortable with receiving a hug from her grandparents.

Harris said:

“We don’t need ad campaigns lecturing citizens, and we don’t need a situation where money is being given out and then we’re reading stories years later in relation to how that money wasn’t properly spent or didn’t deliver.”

Labour Party leader Ivana Bacik Sasko Lazarov / Photocall Ireland Sasko Lazarov / Photocall Ireland / Photocall Ireland

Her correspondence with the Tánaiste, seen by The Journal, Bacik said Harris had accused civil society organisations of using public money to “lecture citizens”, which she said “grossly mischaracterised” the role these organisations play in our society. 

“Transparency, good governance and value for money are obligations that already apply to every organisation entrusted with public funds,” she said. 

‘Chilling message sent to the sector’

“Taken together with the Minister for Justice’s recent attack on the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre’s autonomy in its campaign priorities, your remarks send a chilling message to the sector, and society at large,” she added.  

She went on to say that more than 280,000 people work in the community and voluntary sector, stating that many of these agencies exist due to the government’s failures to adequately resource public services.

“Your remarks are an affront to the immense contribution of that essential workforce,” said Bacik. 

“When two of the most senior cabinet ministers publicly question their work or independence, it compromises their ability to challenge government policy,” she added. 

Bacik said Harris’s comments come at a critical moment for democracy, telling the Tánaiste that the legitimacy of independent civil society organisations is being openly questioned.

“Rather than following the playbook of the AfD, National Rally, US Republicans and Reform UK, Ireland should be defending independent advocacy,” she said. 

“In the run-up to your party’s Ard Fheis, you must resist the temptation to cast cynical aspersions on the good work of NGOs. Responding to pressure from the right-wing of your party by portraying human rights advocacy as contentious is morally wrong and deeply shortsighted,” she added.

She called on Harris to issue an unequivocal public retraction of his remarks and to clarify that publicly funded NGOs have both the right and the responsibility to advocate independently of the government.

Bacik also called on the Tánaiste to recommit to protecting the independence of civil society by giving assurances that future NGO funding will be allocated objectively, “independent of culture wars”.