The former CEO of the Peter McVerry Trust has accused the previous board of the company of providing him with financial details that "could not have been further from the truth", saying when he took over the charity "was verging on total collapse".
Francis Doherty, who was CEO from June to October 2023, outlined the situation at the start of a day of meetings over what happened at the Dáil's Public Accounts Committee today.
The committee is meeting to examine serious concerns over the well-known charity's financial situation, housing purchases, transparency and other matters.
In his opening address to the committee, Mr Doherty said "on the face of it the trust was hugely successful," saying it had more than 1,000 properties, an annual budget of more than €60m, helped more than 2,000 people every night and "played a crucial role in addressing some of the most challenging situations in society".
Mr Doherty said for him and others who had worked in the charity for a number of years, "the trust was more than a job," and "appeared to be in good stead", as it was under the oversight of the Charities Regulator.
He said that when he became CEO in summer 2023, "I was advised by the board that it could not be handed over in better health".
However, "within weeks" he said "it became clear that the board's representation could not have been further from the truth", with the charity's finances "in such a poor state that within each passing day it became clear it was verging on total collapse".
Mr Doherty said at that time the charity's creditors were owed €9.6m, Revenue €6m and banks €2m.
He said the organisation "had €437,000 across all bank accounts, zero in cash reserves, and just €127 in a sinking fund", when he had been told it should have had "more than €5m", in various service-specific bank accounts.
Mr Doherty said he later became aware much of the cost issues were due to the charity "bidding substantially less" for housing than "what it cost to run the service" related to that same housing, saying "the scale of the crisis" means "it has taken over two years and yet the finances are still not resolved".
Mr Doherty said in his view there is a question over "how a board remains credible when in mid-August 2023 they wrote to the charities regulator saying they were full compliant", and asked why the charities regulator "did not intervene".
He said: "I have no doubt that if not for the steps I took in those days then Trust would have collapsed."
McVerry Trust spent money on enclosure for two peacocks
The Peter McVerry Trust homeless charity spent money on an enclosure for two peacocks at an historic period property it had purchased, TDs have been told.
Mr Doherty told the Dáil's Public Accounts Committee that his predecessor authorised the planned spending.
The situation occurred at the Kerdiffstown House in Co Kildare, at which Mr Doherty said his predecessor also authorised building a second lift so that service users and staff in the maintenance kitchen would not use the same lift as him.
Asked by Fianna Fáil TD Paul McAuliffe about what Deputy McAuliffe described as "exceptional" spending, Mr Doherty said he became aware of a number of concerns at Kerdiffstown House.
Mr Doherty said this included a €300,000 spend on widening the driveway, an "unauthorised second lift shaft on the side of the property" and "an enclosure for two peacocks".
Mr Doherty said he was told the second lift was planned as his predecessor did not want staff or service users in the commercial kitchen "using the same lift as him", and that there was "no planning or engineering support".
Deputy McAuliffe then said: "Of all the improvements, the one I was least expecting was a peacock enclosure" at the location.
In response, Mr Doherty said "that became a symbol of what was going wrong, a loss of control" and that he learned of the peacock enclosure "for two peacocks" when "myself and a deputy came into the office and got access" to financial details.
Deputy McAuliffe said, "I know it's a daft question, but why in god's name would anyone donate money" to a homeless charity "for a peacock enclosure", to which Mr Doherty said: "Absolutely. It's indefensible anybody would think it was appropriate."
Questions asked about strategy on securing properties
Mr Doherty said that when it came to taking on or agreeing to take on properties, in his view his predecessor's strategy seemed to be that it was important just to secure the opportunity, grow the number of beds the organisation was providing, get the property in and find a way thereafter to fund it.
He said if there was no money available, the strategy would involve contacting the Dublin Region Homeless Executive or the Department of Housing and say 'we did this, we delivered the beds, now we need extra money because it cost us more than we told you at the start.’"
Mr Doherty said this had happened numerous times over a number of years.
Sinn Féin TD Cathy Bennett asked about oversight of the €15m bailout given to the Trust by the Government in 2023.
She said it was her understanding that there were guidelines put in place and the housing minister had requested that he would have two nominations allocated to the board of the Trust to ensure there was oversight of the bailout money.
Mr Doherty said this did not happen when he was at the Trust, because the bailout was agreed after he left.
He said he did attempt in September 2023 to put independent people on the board that were not associated with the previous CEO, but that this was rejected.
"I think the ability to appoint people to the board was available to multiple agencies at the time, but nobody took up that opportunity," he said.
Charities Regulator continuing to follow up with McVerry Trust
In her opening statement to the committee, Charities Regulator Madeleine Delaney said inspectors were appointed to the Peter McVerry Trust on 12 October 2023 to carry out a focused investigation into governance and finance-related matters at the charity.
Ms Delaney said the inspectors' report in October 2024 had several findings relating to failures in oversight and the management and administration of the charity and its assets.
She said the report highlighted a lack of appropriate financial controls and a failure to adhere to donor intention in how restricted funds were used.
Ms Delaney said the Charities Regulator is continuing to follow up with the Peter McVerry Trust to ensure the issues highlighted in the report are being properly addressed.
