The Central Remedial Clinic was founded in Dublin in 1951 and is a National centre for the care, treatment and development of children and adults with physical disabilities. It is funded by the State and philanthropic sources. It is the alleged misuse of the latter which has kept it in the news all week and led the entire Board to resign yesterday.

Apparently the salaries earned by some Board members had been topped up from monies received as donations for the care of disabled children.

The extent of this practice was uncovered when the Board was brought before the Public Accounts Committee. The largest top-up went to the former chief executive who received more than €135,000 in addition to his salary of €106,000. He also got a golden handshake of €200,000, paid out of charitable donations, when he retired this summer.

On examination the assets of the CRC were found to be considerable and there was a question mark over pension contributions which went into, what one member of the PAC described as, a “phantom fund”.

The immediate effect of these revelations has been a large reduction in giving which is doubly unfortunate as this would have normally been the time of year when donors give most generously. A secondary effect has been the disillusionment with charities in general as all have suffered a drop in income and, in one or two cases, are themselves under investigation.

Ireland is a relatively generous country having somewhere in the region of 8,000 registered charities. Some regulation is now planned to ensure that proper attention is given to the auditing of accounts and a version of these displayed on the charities website so as to inspire future donor confidence.

The giving of alms has a long and noble history. Giving to those in need by those who can meet the need is one of the pillars of piety mentioned by Jesus in St Matthew Chapter 6 verses 1-4. He commended giving in secret.

Now-a-days giving is seldom in secret as there is usually a gift or an opportunity for gain given as an inducement to the giver to be generous. What marks out the believer is secret giving where only God knows where it comes from. This way of giving where the worthiness of the cause justifies the gift gains the approval, Jesus said, of his father in heaven.

How the recipient spends the donation is outwith his control although it may influence future gifts!

The churches in Macedonia are given as a good example. They first gave themselves to the Lord then gave generously to the poor in Jerusalem. This is still the right way to do it. Read what happened in 2Corinthians 8 verses 1-5.