The Irish Mail on Sunday

‘I’m fuming... I get €93 a week to care for my son while these people get top-ups’

- By Niamh Griffin HEALTH CORRESPOND­ENT

‘This just makes my blood boil’

THE mother of a young man receiving care from St John of God yesterday posed a question for the discredite­d organisati­on’s chiefs: ‘Where is the God in this?’

After learning that secret salary payments had been made to senior managers in the charity, Mary D’Arcy said: ‘There is a lot of injustice in this.

‘This is a charitable organisati­on, they are getting money from the HSE so why are they not putting all of their money into our children?’

Mary’s son Micheál attends daycare services at St John of God in Drumcar, Co. Louth. Some units at this centre have been the focus of controvers­y over standards, and four units were deemed not fit for purpose by health watchdog Hiqa in February.

She added that her son and his peers got a token payment for working at Drumcar, in Micheál’s case it was €6.50 a week. This was taken away in 2012.

She said: ‘It was not about the amount for us, it was the principle of coming home with that envelope every week. Then they did away with dinners for them too.’ Mary, who is chairwoman of the Dundalk Parents and Friends of the Intellectu­ally Disabled, added: ‘I am thrilled to see Dr Smith and the HSE have done this report.

‘We knew about this from your paper last year, but I hope now the Government and the new Taoiseach Leo Varadkar will do something about it. This just makes my blood boil.

‘I have to justify every penny I get from social welfare. I’m a pensioner, living alone with my son. My Carers’ Allowance is €93 a week, that’s because I get a pension as well so I can’t get the full allowance, they said. I love my son, I love him to bits – but €93 a week when you hear what some people in St John of God get... I’m fuming.’

Another mother, Aisling McNiff – whose 12-year-old son Jack attends St Raphael’s Centre in Celbridge, also run by St John of God – said: ‘It’s great to have the report, but it’s been in the open since last June.

‘The HSE is giving them millions, why is no-one looking to see where it is going?’

She added: ‘In my opinion the money the HSE gives charities should be going directly to clients, not on wages.’

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