One of the questions exercising the minds of observers – including, it would seem, members of government political parties – is the role which publicly funded advocacy NGOs played as the main promoters of the Yes/Yes side in the referendums which were overwhelmingly rejected at the weekend.
The National Women’s Council of Ireland seemed to have elected itself to be the point person and co-ordinator of the campaign. Its large financial take from the taxpayer was examined again recently by Gary Kavanagh of this parish, who calculated that most of its funds are squeezed out of the taxpayer. On polling day it issued hourly calls to battle for liberal Ireland to head towards the polling stations.
It has had little to say since the results, mind you, preferring to pore over the ancient myths of the liberal bourgeoisie who would have you believe that they lived under persecution for generations, when the truth is that they have always been a powerful and often decisive voice in Irish public life.
But in the aftermath of the resounding rejection of both proposals at the weekend, questions must surely be asked of those organisations which were happy to sign up for Yes/Yes, and who are part of the graphic below advertising their commitment to the government side in a referendum.
Questions, for example, about the fact that, for most of these NGOS, most of their funding comes from the very same government proposing the referenda.
Almost every single one of them are dependent on the taxpayers – the same people who have just delivered a thumping NoNo vote.
And there are also questions to be asked about why organisations which are nearly entirely taxpayer funded, because that’s what public funding is, are allowed to campaign for a referendum proposal, given the McKenna and McCrystal judgements.
As Gary’s analysis of NWCI funding shows, of the €9.2 million raised between 2013 and 2022, a full €7.4 million came from the public purse. That means that the organisation was 80% funded by the state. In contrast just 4.1% of that income came from voluntary membership fees and subscriptions.
Pertinent to this discussion is the revelation that “over 96% of the organisation’s staffing costs over the last 3 years were paid for with grants from government departments and publicly funded entities such as the HSE”.
Will NWCI be asked to explain how they ensured the time of publicly-funded staff time wasn’t spent on the YesYes campaign? Will the same transparency be required for other NGOs?
A similar picture emerges from an examination of some of the main advocacy NGOs who feature in the colourful graphic. Just eight of these; LGBT Ireland, Oxfam Ireland, Children’s Rights Alliance, Treoir, Spunout, Family Carers, Transgender Equality Network Ireland (TENI) and Community Work Ireland had a combined income of €40.3 million in their last published financial statements.
Of that sum, almost €25 million, or more than 61% came directly from the state. Others receive substantial amounts from millionaire philanthropists. The Children’s Rights Alliance for example – an organisation vastly funded as we have shown previously by Atlantic Philanthropies – received €529,000 or over half of its funding in 2022 from this source. TENI received €81,730 from the Sigrid Rausing Foundation.
The state dependency figure is actually distorted by Oxfam which has the largest income of the eight NGOs in question, as it receives around a quarter of its income in donations. One wonders to what extent donors realise the extent to which Oxfam Ireland has aligned itself with government proposals on referendum campaigns, and indeed has protested in support of “hate legislation”.
Some of the NGOs are almost completely dependent on tax payers money – over 99% in the case of Community Work Ireland. Family Carers Ireland get 95% of their funding from the state. Which surely begs the question as to who Family Carers Ireland actually represent given the overwhelming rejection of the “Care” proposal, which was heavily criticised by actual carers rather than those who say they “advocate” for them.
Treoir, which claims to represent single parents – another target constituency for the Care Bears pushing Yes/Yes, but who quite patently rejected the advice and scaremongering about how families are currently defined – received €794,461 of its last declared income of €834,000 from the state. That amounts to a 95% dependency on the state.
The same lack of public support identified in relation to the National Women’s Council (NWCI) – with the exception of Oxfam – is also apparent in the small part of the income of these NGOs that comes from voluntary membership fees and donations. For the seven others named above, this accounted for less than 2% of their income.
In some cases this borders on the barely accountable. TENI received just €1,552 or 0.38% of its income from membership fees. Treoir only managed to persuade people to donate €2,182, or 0.26% of its income of €834,000. The treasurer of a local GAA, soccer, or darts club would be shown the door if presenting such accounts.
While the NWCI, and other well-funded but small and unrepresentative advocacy NGOs, might have some excuse for being out of touch with the public mood, surely that same claim could not be made by the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, and the two large trade unions Fórsa and Unite, which were also happy to throw their weight into the disastrous campaign. The same question might be posed to the Union of Students of Ireland.
The Irish Congress of Trade Unions claims to represent more than 600,000 workers in affiliated unions. Fórsa claims to represent over 80,000 members in the public service. Think on that for a moment. A trade union whose membership is entirely made up of people working in the public service decided to affiliate itself publicly to a government campaign in a referendum. That was the relationship that unfree trade unions had with the former Communist states.
Did the ICTU annual Congress have a vote on this issue and decide to advocate a vote on the same side as the government and the rest of the political establishment in Sinn Féin and the smaller left wing parties? Did Fórsa? Did Unite?
These are questions that need to be answered along with a deep scrutiny of the funding of the left-liberal NGOs and their way too powerful position in Irish society and public life.
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Thanks Matt. Your clear headed analysis as always invaluable. The referendums clearly demonstrate that the funding of advocacy NGOs from the public purse undermines our democracy. This unelected ecosystem was given no democratic mandate to speak for anyone but themselves. If they wish to put their views forward then put their name on a ballot paper. I for one am deeply disturbed by what I have learned from your analysis. I would strongly recommend that our elected representatives defund these advocacy groups as a matter of urgency to preserve the health and well being of our democracy.
Gkobally, the NGO industrial complex has its tentacles in all aspects of society; imigration, climate, abortion race. BMGF Open Society, which feeds into Amalgamated Charities. It is wheels within wheels. A perusal of each department gov.ie in the grants section, might be infoRmative. It might show tge same irganisations feature quite a lot
All these organisations have been infiltrated by the left. It’s basically a cult like organisation where the people blindly spread the ideology. The vast majority of the 160000 who are employed by them would not get a job anywhere else.
Keep asking challenging questions about the cosy relationship between the Government and NGOs who are mostly funded by taxpayers.
Men’s Development Network are in there twice. If it was to inflate the amount of men supporting the yes it’s all imaginary as those offices are likely full of women. Really though its just that whoever made the graphic is bad at graphic design. Having had the pleasure of spending college surrounded by these types i can tell you they are not skilled at anything, they are bot creative or analytical or anything useful and if you went in to any of the offices of these organisations whether Mens Dev Network or NWC you will see a group of chattering do nothings drinking tea and reacting with malice if asked to do any work
The Men’s Development Network has been around for thirty years and has never once spoken out about the injustices suffered by men in the family courts. They are in fact a group of pro-feminist quislings who spend their time demonising men and masculinity and support the NWCI and other misandrist feminist groups in all their anti-man campaigns. Twenty years ago they were deeply involved in the discredited Exploring Masculinities project which involved a campaign in primary schools designed to (in their own words) deconstruct and reconstruct masculinity. According to their website their activities are all ‘informed by feminist scholarship’ which really means that they are devout disciples of the myths of male privilege and women’s oppression. Most of their male activists are men who regularly whinge about ‘how they struggle with being a man’. What they really need is some form of therapy rather than massive amounts of taxpayers money to promote their sick perception of men and masculinity.
I’d say a day in the bog would do them a power of good. Or a good kick in the traps.
Who are in these NGO’s? Are there a cross mix in different boards taking several wages? How does someone get on a board? Were all of their members balloted on their support for Yes or No in the Referendum? If not, as I suspect, then they are fully undemocratic in their operation process. How often do they meet and lobby TD’s? Are there records kept for Freedom Of Information of any meetings seeing as the Public purse funds their existence?
In most cases you need to be seen to be ‘ideologically pure’ to get on their boards or get into one of their many well paid jobs funded by the taxpayer. The ICTU leadership has taken a position on many controversial issues over the years without ever consulting their membership.
I would like to know how many elected council members are currently serving on these boards.
Defund them all….’nuff said. See my previous comments.
I am furious reading this and feel entirely duped. My tax money is being used to drive political campaigns without my knowledge never mind my permission. One of these oganisatio s should receive any money from the state at all. Rather I should be given an opportunity via my tax return to invest my money in legitimate organisations of my choosing. That way the public decide what is value for money. These organisations will only have loyalty to the bag man. This practice is utterly corrupt and show what scant regards these politicians and their lackeys have for our state.
Independent TD Michael Fitzmaurice mention a figure of 6bn in taxpayer funding for the NGO sector on the tonight show last night . This was validated & discussed previously I believe as it wasn’t challenged by the other panelist’s from FF & FG or the show host. Gript ran an article a few weeks ago which showed state spending on asylum seeker accommodation at 2Bn per annum & rising. This was accommodation only so I’d assume there’s another 1bn or so in welfare , medical cards & other add ons.
That’s a total of 9Bn p.a. Per the 2022 revenue PAYE real time data insights report there are 3.3 million employees in Ireland (including those in receipt of occupational pensions ). Of those 3.3 million 1.2 million are low income or part time workers (in Receipt of less than 20K p.a. so paying little to no tax at all ). So that leaves 2.1 workers shouldering the 9Bn.
That’s €4,285 per person that every single person in the county that pays income tax is contributing to funding the anti Irish NGO’s & asylum process . If you have a couple where both are working that’s €8,572 is their annual subscription to the cartel that hates them. Let that sink in. I’d love figures on what the state donates to the mainstream media sector every year , what we be up around then €10,000 from ordinary Irish families to keep the cartel going ??
Thank you matt, just a word to all who comment a simple e mail to the relevent minister would be powerful.
It might do some good but even if it did influence a Minister I think the NGOs control the Ministers rather than vice versa.
In view of the substantial government funding for NGOs (non-government organisations), such as the National Women’s Council, shouldn’t they be redesignated QUANGOs (quasi-government organisations)? Government funding encourages, if not demands, that the government be supported, or funding could be cut. This might well have been the situation with the NWC.
Well tbh I have no interest in listening to delusions and lies from soros and gates funded organizations whose sole clear intention is to destroy us and our culture funded by the most hateful government in the history of the state. I would prefer they are just banned and all funding stopped. The ref has clearly shown they are all despised by the majority.
it was groups like the FORSA Union and the National Women’s Council that headed up the “ireland for all” -refugees welcome rally in Dublin last year. Many were making money out of the industry in some way, e.g either worked for an NGO or state body involved in the industry. Not really representative of wider society.
It is now time to have an inquiry into the number of Irish NGOs that exist, the amount of funding they attract and the type of work they carry out
Excellent insights