ANGER AT JOHN OF GOD PAY ‘TOP-UPS’
PARENTS DEMAND ENQUIRY AFTER ALLEGATIONS
CALLS for a ‘full, independent enquiry’ into the operation and management of St John of God’s, which runs St Mary’s, Drumcar, were made this week as the beleaguered charity battled a public backlash against alleged ‘ top-up’ payments to senior management.
‘It is disgraceful,’ was the view of David Lally from the Dundalk Parents and Friends of the Intellectually Disabled. ‘I cannot think of words strong enough to say how I feel,’ said David, whose son has been attending St John of God’s since he was three years old.
The organisation which provides residential and respite care, along with education and other supports for the intellectually disabled was under the spotlight over the last week as details of the CEO John Pepper’s salary of €182,000 emerged. Criticisms over a €1.64m sum shared between 14 executives at St. John of God were also made as it emerged the payments were not disclosed to the HSE.
Minister for Health Simon Harris said he was ‘very disappointed’ about the revelations, adding that ‘it seems there were efforts to conceal additional payments from the HSE.’
CALLS for a ‘full, independent enquiry’ into the operation and management of St. John of God’s, which runs St. Mary’s, Drumcar were made this week as the beleaguered charity battled a public backlash against alleged ‘ top up’ payments to senior management.
‘It is disgraceful,’ was the view of David Lally from the Dundalk Parents and Friends of the Intellectually Disabled.
‘I cannot think of words strong enough to say how I feel,’ said David, whose son David (41) has been attending St. John of God’s since he was three years old.
The organisation which provides residential and respite care, along with education and other supports for the intellectually disabled was under the spotlight over the last week as details of the CEO John Pepper’s salary (€182,000) emerged.
Criticisms over a €1.64 million sum shared between 14 executives at St. John of God were also made as it emerged the payments were not disclosed to the HSE.
Minister for Health Simon Harris said he was ‘very disappointed’ about the revelations concerning St John of God and added that ‘it seems there were efforts to conceal additional payments from the HSE’.
Brother Donatus Forkan, provincial of the St John of God order has publicly defended financial decisions made, saying that the payments were made on the advice of consultants to discharge liabilities, and the decision not to inform the HSE about the payments was ‘ taken on professional advice.’
Brother Forkan said the order was anxious to be open and transparent and had last Friday given the HSE ‘everything’ in relation to the payments, including the written professional advice it received on the matter in 2013. ‘ At the time, we were convinced what we were doing was correct, above board and legal,’ he said.
The €1.64 million involved did not come from public funds or private donations, he emphasised, but from rental income on properties owned by the order.
The Order declined to specify the individual payments involved and two of the executives who received a top-up, group chief executive John Pepper and St John of God Community Services chief executive Clare Dempsey, declined to say how much they received.
Parent, David Lally, hit out, saying ‘At the same time they were cutting meals and telling us there was no money, they had these funds to pay out to executives.’ He said it was accepted that executives should receive ‘a decent living wage.’ But he described the monies involved here are ‘ totally unacceptable.’
He described people who access the services as ‘absolutely the most vulnerable in society, people who cannot speak for themselves.’
News also broke at the weekend that both Mr Pepper’s son, John Pepper Jnr, and wife, Catherine, are employed at the residential centre near Drumcar, along with other relatives. A spokesperson for St John of God said Mr Pepper had ‘no direct involvement in the employment process of any family member’ at St Mary’s.