The former board of the Peter McVerry Trust will be accused of putting “self-interest” above the charity’s best interests when a Dáil committee discusses the near-collapse in 2023 of the housing and homeless body.
A meeting in Leinster House on Thursday of the Dáil Public Accounts Committee will hear a damning statement from Francis Doherty, the long-time McVerry official who became chief executive shortly before the crisis brewing in its finances came to a head.
The charity was “haemorrhaging cash” when he took over in June 2023. He left the following October, just before the Government gave €15 million to keep the charity afloat.
The committee will discuss a Comptroller & Auditor General (C&AG) report on the bailout that raised questions about the turmoil in the trust.
RM Block
In a statement to TDs before the meeting, Mr Doherty said the charity’s then board “seemed to transition from ignorance to self-preservation” as troubles escalated in summer 2023.
[ Peter McVerry Trust ‘on a journey to renewal and rehabilitation’, claims chairmanOpens in new window ]
Deirdre-Ann Barr, a solicitor who joined the board in 2020 and became chairwoman in May 2022, did not reply on Wednesday to a phone call and text message seeking comment for this piece. She resigned as chairwoman in February.
The trust is now under the control of a new board.
Mr Doherty said: “While long-standing small-scale creditors turned up at our offices desperate to be paid to keep their own businesses afloat, the chair of the board wrote to me with specific directions on who should be paid first: not the agencies who provided the staff we relied upon to keep services running, not the contractors working to rectify fire safety issues that had been uncovered, but two companies recently engaged to provide legal and PR advice to help the board navigate the crisis.”
He added: “The board of the trust prioritised self-interest over the best interests of the charity, put staff and service users at risk, and made my and my staff’s efforts to act in the charity’s best interest so much more challenging.”
Mr Doherty succeeded Pat Doyle, who was chief executive for 18 years. Mr Doyle was invited to the committee, but signalled he has “no comment” on the C&AG report.
[ Gardaí begin criminal investigation into Peter McVerry TrustOpens in new window ]
Mr Doherty worked in the trust for a decade before becoming chief executive, first in junior and mid-level roles and then as housing development and communications director in 2020. As incoming chief executive, he was invited to the trust’s annual meeting on May 11th, 2023.
“I was advised by the board, and I quote, ‘the organisation could not be handed over to you in better financial health’ and they noted that the outgoing CEO had secured 18 years of ‘clean audits’,” Mr Doherty said.
“It became clear, within weeks, that the board’s representation of the charity’s financial state could not have been further from the truth,” he added.
“The finances and financial systems were in such a poor state that with each passing day it became clear that it was verging on total collapse.”
He was in no doubt that the trust would have collapsed without decisions he made in summer 2023.
The meeting comes days after the new McVerry board published overdue accounts for 2023 which set out a €23 million property writedown. Current chairman Tony O’Brien, in office since May, has said the charity’s troubles were “more like a case of incompetence than malevolence”.
