More than €1m withheld from aid charity Gorta over governance concerns

The Department of Foreign Affairs withheld €1.2 million in State funding to Irish aid charity Gorta-Self Help Africa over concerns about the governance of the organisation in recent months.

An internal investigation last year found senior staff had “lost all confidence” in the management of the charity, and upheld multiple complaints against its then-chief executive Ray Jordan. Among concerns raised last March, staff complained about the charity’s work in Ukraine, which the report said “displayed problematic behaviours” as well as “poor management”.

The report was carried out by barrister Gearóid Ó Brádaigh and completed in July 2022, with Mr Jordan leaving the charity a number of months later.

Internal records, released to The Irish Times under the Freedom of Information act, show on foot of the controversy the Department of Foreign Affairs decided to withhold State funding to the charity.

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The overseas development charity, which mainly focuses on supporting small farmers in Africa, initially kept the turmoil “confidential” and did not inform the department. It notified officials of the controversy last September, the same month the charities regulator wrote to the charity raising queries about the issue.

In a September 23rd, 2022, email, Michael Gaffey, head of the department’s development cooperation and Africa division, said it “could be argued” the charity had only disclosed the matter as the regulator started to look into it.

Mr Jordan had written to the department in early September stating he was leaving Gorta-SHA, without mentioning the internal investigation.

Mr Gaffey said the charity’s board had agreed to let the outgoing chief executive inform its partners he was stepping down, “but he did not do so in the manner they would have hoped”, he said.

The charity asked the department to “separate” the resignation of Mr Jordan from its governance issues, but Mr Gaffey said they seemed “one and the same issue”.

A department briefing note on September 30th said it would “hold off” on releasing further funding to the charity pending clarification of the issues.

The barrister’s inquiry said staff had raised “ethical” concerns with a decision to accept a $300,000 donation from a US company that sells rifle scopes. Department officials also “expressed their concern” with the donation during a meeting with Gorta-SHA in early October, with the charity later agreeing to return the money.

A further October 6th briefing said the internal issues had related to Mr Jordan’s “leadership style”. Officials noted the charity was keen to stress “no fraud had occurred”, and it had dealt with the challenges quickly and decisively.

The department sought details of any “severance payment” made to the former chief executive. However the charity said the terms of his departure were confidential.

After officials received a copy of the internal investigation they expressed “concern” that it appeared the issues “may be more complex” than initially presented by the charity during previous meetings. However, in mid-November officials sought approval to release State funding to the charity again. A department spokesman said funding was restored as it was satisfied the charity’s board had dealt with the matter appropriately.

A February 1st briefing noted Gorta-SHA had been allocated a further grant of €4.9 million this year, conditional on the department “continuing to be satisfied with governance and management arrangements”. Funds would be withdrawn “should information come to light which has not been shared with the department” in its funding application, the briefing said.

Neither the charity nor Mr Jordan responded to requests for comment.

Internal department briefings also stated there were several separate “open” fraud or safeguarding cases related to the charity.

Feargal O’Connell, outgoing chief executive of Sightsavers Ireland, a charity working to prevent avoidable blindness in the developing world, is due to take over as head of Gorta-SHA in the coming weeks.