Tusla warned charity over ‘shortcomings’

Tusla, the child and family agency, warned it could withdraw funding to a charity working to support at-risk children in their homes, over “significant shortcomings” in the governance of the organisation.

Two internal audits criticised oversight and controls at Empowerment Plus (EPlus), a Mullingar-based charity that provides outreach and family support services to at-risk children in their homes.

In a February 25th, 2022, letter, Kate Duggan, Tusla director of services, said the audits had exposed “significant shortcomings” in the governance of the charity.

Ms Duggan, who is currently acting chief executive of Tusla, said the agency was “greatly concerned” as some findings were similar in both audits.

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Ms Duggan said Tusla “reserve the right to withdraw funding” to the organisation, if officials were not satisfied reforms were being made.

Minutes of a meeting last July between EPlus and Tusla outlined the charity hired an independent contractor to review their policies and introduce any required changes.

An internal Tusla audit in late 2021 found governance and internal controls in the organisation were “unsatisfactory”.

It said EPlus had donated €26,850 to a cycling club, TC Racing Club, which was founded and chaired by its chief executive Tom Clogher.

It recommended EPlus should “cease with immediate effect the making of donations with public funding”, which the charity agreed to do. The charity had also purchased “gifts, flowers, staff meals and vouchers from public funding”, it said.

The charity works with children who are deemed at risk in their home by providing outreach and family support.

The audit said a board member who stepped down as a director was still authorised as having access to its bank account until late 2021.

Mr Clogher had solely signed off on three cheques related to €3,476 of his own travel expenses, it said.

The audit raised a number of issues with €209,000 in expenses paid out between 16 employees, which it said in some cases covered purchases such as cigarettes.

In one case an employee who had claimed more than €10,000 in expenses had submitted 255 claims without receipts, the report said.

The audit was also critical that the charity had been paying the mobile phone bills of a number of volunteers for years, who had little involvement with EPlus.

EPlus reported €3.4 million in income according to their annual accounts for 2021, nearly all of which came from State funding. The organisation received €2.8 million in funding from Tusla last year.

A spokesman for Tusla said agency officials had met with senior EPlus staff on a monthly basis following the internal audits, “to seek assurances” that reforms were being made.

“This monthly monitoring process concluded in January 2023, when Tusla senior management were satisfied that all recommendations had either been implemented or were in progress”, he said.

Francis McGeough, chairman of the EPlus board, said the charity had worked closely with Tusla over the past two years “to address the identified governance and compliance recommendations” from the audits.

The chair said the charity’s oversight and governance had since been deemed satisfactory.