Social AffairsAnalysis

Serious questions raised about future of Peter McVerry Trust

Good work of charity for homeless not in doubt but ‘numerous key compliance and governance failures’ found by Charities Regulator

The Peter McVerry Trust office on Mountjoy Square: Between 2018 and 2022, it received €164.3 million from the State and €72.6 million in donations. Photograph: Alan Betson
The Peter McVerry Trust office on Mountjoy Square: Between 2018 and 2022, it received €164.3 million from the State and €72.6 million in donations. Photograph: Alan Betson
Arthur Beesley's picture
Arthur Beesley
Tue Oct 15 2024 - 05:30

Two weeks ago, the Comptroller and Auditor General said the Peter McVerry Trust wanted the State to fully fund its housing services for homeless people despite a €15 million Government bailout that was supposed to stabilise its battered finances. Now Charities Regulator inspectors have found serious lapses in the running of the €165 million homeless body that raise fundamental questions about its future.

Sooner or later, Minister for Housing Darragh O’Brien will have to settle whether the State should continue funding the organisation or whether its assets and services would be better managed elsewhere. This will be a big call. The inspectors found “numerous key compliance and governance failures” and said there was “no sufficient evidence of adequate or appropriate controls” by board trustees.

[ Peter McVerry Trust board ‘not aware’ of property deal at centre of ‘conflict of interest’ inquiry ]

Such findings are highly damaging for the credibility of the charity set up in 1983 by Jesuit priest Fr Peter McVerry. The scale of the trust’s good work is not in doubt: it worked with more than 14,000 people in 2023 and was active in 28 of the 31 State’s local authorities. These are vital services, providing shelter to some of the weakest people in society.

But the inspectors set out a litany of failings that must raise concerns for the Minister. They include the listing of duplicate properties on the trust’s fixed asset register, property not listed or registered as owned by the trust in the Land Registry records, and the failure to depreciate freehold property over its useful life.

READ MORE

Although the McVerry Trust is under new management these days, the findings give rise to anxiety about how it managed scores of millions of euro in funding from taxpayers and other benefactors. Between 2018 and 2022, it received no less than €164.3 million from the State and €72.6 million in donations.

Publishing the report, regulator chief executive Madeleine Delaney said charity trustees “have a duty to make sure that donations, funds or grants given for a specific charitable purpose are used for that purpose alone” and used appropriately or responsibly.

[ Housing charity wants full State funding despite €15m bailout, spending watchdog found ]

Basic requirements certainly. Still, the inspectors raise questions as to whether anyone knows what really went on in the trust and where it stands now.

For one thing, they report “numerous material transactions relating to property purchases, transfers of funds, loans and takeovers during the review period that were not known to, or approved by, the board”.

For another, they say “no cash flows, cash on hand, asset or liability figures were provided to the audit committee of the board until July 2023″. Before that time, indeed, financial reports presented to the committee and the board did not include any information in relation to creditor balances.

Although a July 2023 board minute said trustees were “never apprised of the volume of creditors outstanding”, the board had signed financial statements two months previously saying current and non-current creditors were owed €19.5 million.

[ Peter McVerry Trust faces a reckoning over financial fog in its operations ]

Mentioned throughout is the unnamed “former CEO 1″, who was chief executive between June 2005 and May 2023. That person is Pat Doyle. The inspectors said “former CEO 1″ did not declare an interest in a third-party company in which he was previously a director. That entity received €350,000 in religious order funds from the trust via another charity in December 2022. Such funds were ultimately returned to the trust between June and July 2023, the inspectors found.

The board acknowledged “deficiencies” in financial controls, saying it has undertaken extensive work to rebuild and that “no fraud or misappropriation of funds for personal gain” was identified.

But the inspectors have set out a disturbing lack of oversight in an organisation entrusted with huge volumes of public money.