Revelations that the Peter McVerry Trust bought nine apartments in Co Offaly that were developed by the homelessness charity’s former longtime auditor are “very serious”, Minister of State at the Department of Housing Kieran O’Donnell has said.
The Irish Times revealed on Thursday the trust bought nine apartments in Birr that were developed by the former longtime auditor of the homelessness charity and Mr O’Donnell said he would be raising the matter with Minister for Housing Darragh O’Brien.
The charity bought several apartments that had been developed on a site off Main Street in the town by Donal Ryan, planning records show. At the time of the sale, his accountancy firm, Donal Ryan & Associates, had been auditing the charity’s accounts for more than a decade.
The group of apartments in a small residential development called The Heritage was bought by the trust in 2018 for homeless accommodation.
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Labour TD Ged Nash mentioned the report in the Dáil on Wednesday afternoon and said it raised “very serious and obvious conflict of interests and concerns”. Mr Nash said the State would spend more than €240 million on homelessness services next year.
“Vital public services have been outsourced to homelessness charity corporates – what’s emerging are serious governance issues in the Peter McVerry Trust,” he said.
The Louth TD asked whether the Government would be bailing out the trust with emergency funding and “how large is the bailout being sought by the trust” and whether it would be €5 million or more.
He also asked if the Government had concerns about funding or other governance issues in “some of the other approved housing bodies”.
In response, Mr O’Donnell said he was fully aware that there were reviews going on in relation to the charity at the moment. “It would be inappropriate to comment on the issue publicly but the matters you raised are very serious and matters I will be bring back to Minister O’Brien,” he said.
The Charities Regulator and the Approved Housing Bodies Regulatory Authority, which regulates non-profit housing bodies, are conducting parallel statutory investigations into financial and governance issues at the charity.
Seperately, Fine Gael TD for Laois–Offaly Charlie Flanagan said there was now a “new and very concerning urgency attached to the issues facing the Peter McVerry Trust”. He said the charity was already receiving “significant” public funding, and any further emergency bailout should see “strict conditions” placed on the trust.
