A Scouting Ireland director has stepped down abruptly from the board of the Charities Regulator, after a Minister threatened to remove her if she did not resign.
Galway barrister Lorraine Lally had held on to her board seat despite the regulator appointing inspectors last week to investigate serious governance issues in the scouting body.
After The Irish Times reported the conflict of interest on Tuesday morning, Minister for Rural and Community Development Heather Humphreys sent a letter to Ms Lally seeking her resignation by 3pm that afternoon.
“I have offered my resignation as requested by the Minister,” Ms Lally said. “I cannot say I have read anything you have written but I have got messages and emails all day.”
Ms Humphreys’ department acknowledged the resignation, which came on the Minister’s final day in the Government.
“Your presence on the board of the Charities Regulator, despite no wrongful intention on your part, harms its effectiveness as regulator, because it permits any other charity, against which the regulator needs to act, to say ‘you are a body whose members cannot keep their own houses in order’,” said the Minister’s letter.
“Unfortunately, the responsibility for noncompliance with the applicable legal and regulatory corporate governance rules rests with the board of Scouting Ireland and my concern remains that there is a clear conflict in being a member of the Charities Regulatory Authority and you having served as a member of the board of Scouting Ireland for an extended period of noncompliance.
“So, I understand your views, and have fully considered them, but they have not resolved the concern that caused me to write to you proposing your resignation or removal.”
The regulator is required to be “independent in the performance of its functions”. The Minister makes board appointments and only she can remove board members.
Ms Humphreys’ department said: “I can confirm that the board member in question tendered their resignation from the board of the Charities Regulatory Authority to the Minister earlier today. The Minister accepted the resignation and wished them well in the future.”
A Scouting Ireland director since 2019, Ms Lally is the longest-serving member of its board and chairwoman of its safeguarding subcommittee. Ms Humphreys appointed her to the regulator in 2022.
The scouting body is one of the largest youth organisations in the State but it has been wracked by governance and safeguarding controversies, culminating in a historical child sexual abuse scandal.
The appointment of inspectors comes two years into a prolonged examination of Scouting Ireland’s affairs. At one point in 2023 the regulator issued a legal order compelling the body to provide information.
In her Tuesday letter to Ms Lally, the Minister said she had expressed concerns in a previous letter last Friday and referred to a remote meeting with the barrister at 11am on Monday. That Monday meeting came around the time The Irish Times submitted questions about Ms Lally’s dual role to the Minister’s office and the regulator.
In her Tuesday letter, Ms Humphreys said she accepted entirely Ms Lally’s description of her good work and achievements in helping Scouting Ireland address its child protection issues.
“I also take on board the point that you disclosed to the Charities Regulator, from the start and in accordance with the code of business conduct for members of the Charities Regulator, your connection with Scouting Ireland as a possible conflict of interest,” the Minister said.
“I also entirely accept that you participated in the efforts within Scouting Ireland to achieve compliance with corporate governance practice; and that it was not within your power, unilaterally, to resolve the problems of that type within Scouting Ireland.”
But she added: “This letter is to let you know that I will remove you from the board, if you do not offer your resignation by 15.00 today, Tuesday 21 January.”
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