The charities regulator has written to Trócaire, the overseas development agency of the Catholic Church in Ireland, to “remind” it that any future political activity must “directly advance and support [its] stated charitable purposes”.
The letter was prompted by two formal complaints to the regulator about recent campaigns by Trócaire — which was set up to combat poverty and injustice in the developing world — relating to the treatment of Palestinians in Gaza.
In one complaint, a man said he had received an unsolicited mailshot from the charity featuring a Palestinian flag on a postcard with a request to “display the flag overleaf inside your home to show solidarity with the children, women and men of Gaza and Palestine”.