Charity hit by €300k row over funds
Under-fire Irish Autism Action says dispute to blame for delay in publishing annual accounts
THE beleaguered charity, Irish Autism Action, has blamed a dispute over €300,000 in public funds for the delay in publishing its annual accounts.
The charity, once fronted by Boyzone singer Keith Duffy, caused uproar amongst parents of children with autism after it cut its outreach services to focus on national advocacy and awareness campaigns.
More than €300,000 raised for the charity through Early Childhood Ireland’s National Pyjama Day has been withheld from the organisation, pending assurances on how the money will be spent.
The chief executive of Irish Autism Action, Brian Murnane, told the Sunday Independent this weekend that the charity cannot file its accounts for 2015 until the discussions about the €300,000 are resolved. The accounts are already overdue, but the charity declined to say whether it had incurred penalties or fines for late filing.
Informed sources said Irish Autism Action is considering legal action to force the release of the National Pyjama Day funds.
However, in response to questions from this newspaper, Mr Murnane declined to confirm this, saying only that it is “discussions” with Early Childhood Ireland.
Mr Murnane said it is hoped that the discussions on those funds will be concluded soon.
“When that takes place, we will be in a position to finalise our audited accounts for 2015,” he said.
In a statement, Early Childhood Ireland said it is “waiting for information” from Irish Autism Action, including a breakdown of where exactly the money would go, before it releases the €300,000.
However, Mr Murnane suggested that the charity had already spent the money.
“We have provided Early Childhood Ireland with all documents requested concerning the work already done. Our agreement requires that IAA perform the work before being paid, not after.”
He suggested outstanding “legacy” debts that the charity owed to the Revenue Commissioners were being repaid in full and “ahead of schedule”.
Mr Murnane also confirmed that IAA has met the Charities Regulator, which has been lobbied by parents.
A number of parents had raised concerns about how the charity was spending public funds, and also how it was going to use the €20 subscriptions they paid to sign up to the charity.
Their concerns were sparked earlier this year, when they were told that vital outreach services were being cut back.
Two years ago, IAA provided 400 families with outreach services. At the start of this year, just 17 families were receiving outreach services, and they are currently only provided to two families.
However, the charity now says it is providing outreach support to a number of additional families.
Woodie’s DIY recently announced that it has raised more than €50,000 so that IAA can fund the post of autism behaviour analyst.
The charity is mostly funded by public donations and sponsorship. It has raised huge sums in public donations, most recently, €969,320 in 2014 and €1.3m the previous year.
However, it has been struggling financially — it ran up a deficit of €74,133 in 2014 — which prompted a structural review of the charity’s activities.
The board of IAA agreed last year that the charity should focus on national advocacy.
At a meeting with parents of children with autism last summer, Mr Murnane revealed that IAA has no written budget for 2016. He said the charity was working on a cashflow basis because the charity was at the mercy of irregular fundraised income.
He also told the parents that Boyzone star, Keith Duffy, raised €8m for the charity, but at a cost of €7m. Mr Duffy later responded furiously that his time and fundraising efforts had been taken for granted.
The Early Childhood Ireland money is ring-fenced for an awareness and training programme for teachers involved in early childhood education and also funds parent training for families.