Payments to solicitors acting for the Peter McVerry Trust “may well be made up of different components including legal fees”, a State regulator has said after the law firm challenged an inspectors’ report on the charity.
The Approved Housing Bodies Regulatory Authority (AHBRA) issued damning findings on the McVerry trust’s governance two weeks ago, noting a family connection between an unnamed long-term director of the trust and the solicitors. The AHBRA supervises approved housing bodies (AHBs) such as the McVerry organisation that receive public funds to provide affordable housing.
The names were anonymised in the report but The Irish Times identified the director as Richard Lavelle and the law firm as Lavelle Partners, whose managing partner Michael Lavelle is a brother of Richard Lavelle. In a front page report drawing from AHBRA’s findings, the paper said the firm received almost €1.7 million in McVerry fees in 20 months.
Noting the law firm received more than €1.42 million in 2022 and €247,994 in January-August 2023, the AHBRA report said: “The inspectors found no evidence of a potential conflict of interest declaration or potential conflict discussion at board or subcommittee level in this regard.”
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Asked about a legal letter from Lavelle Partners challenging the report on legal payments, the AHBRA said the inspectors “did not provide a breakdown in relation to those payments as this was not contained” in trust transaction records.
“We understand from your article dated 17th December that you have published a response from Lavelle Partners to your initial article asserting that the firm was paid fees in the amount of €1.7 million,” the AHBRA said in statement to The Irish Times.
“You will be aware that the report published by AHBRA made reference to ‘total payments’ to the firm from the Peter McVerry Trust,” the regulator added.
“We accept that the payments referred to in the Report may well be made up of different components including legal fees, as Lavelle Partners have stated.”
Michael Lavelle did not reply to requests for comment when AHBRA findings were first published. Richard Lavelle had no comment that day.
But Lavelle Partners later sent a legal letter to the regulator challenging what it said were inaccuracies concerning conflict of interest questions and fees. There was “no basis” for the reported figures and there was no conflict of interest as Richard Lavelle had no role in selecting or delivering legal services, the letter said.
The fees “actually received” by the firm were €297,534 in 2022 and €312,892 in January-August 2023, the legal letter said. It noted the requirement to pay stamp duty to the Government in property transactions and Táilte Éireann land registry fees.
“We were surprised that incorrect figures were used without being checked by the inspectors,” the letter added.
“While we have not verified your figures as we do not know where you got them, the payments to this firm that you looked at may have included significant payments to Government institutions in excess of €1,000,000 as is normal in a conveyancing transaction.”
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