Irish Red Cross chief ‘not f it to run’ charity

‘When I asked for details on f inances, I was refused,’ says ex-board member

A FORMER board member with the Irish Red Cross has revealed that the charity refused to supply him with details of monies left in all its restricted accounts, arising from national and international appeals and donations following humanitarian crises and disasters.

He has also claimed that the current head of the organisation, secretary general Liam O’Dwyer, is not fit to manage the charity, which he said suffers from ‘poor management of finances’.

As revealed by the Irish Mail on Sunday last week, board member Darren Ryan, who has been associated with the charity for 26 years, stepped down in May due to numerous financial and governance issues, as the charity became engulfed in crisis.

Mr Ryan has also revealed that cashflow concerns at Irish Red Cross were expressed as far back as February at a board meeting.

Up until his resignation two months ago, he said he found it ‘worrying when people couldn’t or wouldn’t answer questions’ and felt he was being ‘stonewalled’.

A spokeswoman for the charity told the MoS last night that they were ‘unable to make any further comment on the issue at this stage as it may prejudice any future legal proceedings’.

When asked if the board had confidence in the ability of Mr O’Dwyer to lead it through a time of crisis, the spokeswoman said that ‘the board of directors of the Irish Red Cross is working together with the Secretary General and fully supports him.’

Mr Ryan, however, said there had been ‘no clarity’ from the charity in relation to its restricted accounts.

The MoS requested a detailed breakdown from the charity on the monies left in all 30 individual restricted funds, but this was refused. Instead, remaining funds in a small number of selected restricted funds were provided.

In a statement, the charity said that its external auditors ‘have not raised any issues in relation to the testing of our restricted funds held centrally by the organisation in the recent audit 2017’.

As of this July, the society holds €689,000 of restricted national and international funds, down from €1.5m in 2016.

The most significant accounts are for Syria (€118,000) and Nepal (€276,000).

The charity has recently cut three full-time positions and has left another four positions vacant, as it struggles with a shortfall in funding, both State funding and in donations and legacies from the public

Mr Ryan criticised Mr O’Dwyer, saying it is his belief that he does not have the ability to manage the organisation.

He said he ‘would say that to his face’ and has also made this view ‘clear at board meetings’. Mr Ryan also questioned Mr O’Dwyer’s management skills, in specific reference to the large body of legislation and regulations governing charities, which he said required the ticking of ‘a lot of boxes’.

Speaking on his local radio station, Tipp FM, Mr Ryan that he requested details about restricted funding on April 25.

None was provided to him, and he again sought the same details on May 19. None was supplied to him on this occasion either.

He also sought details of all legal advice sought by the charity, but again, this was not provided.

Mr Ryan said he consequently resigned on Monday, May 21.

He said the charity’s chairman, the former Fianna Fáil minister Pat Carey asked him to reconsider his resignation, but he said no. Mr Ryan said he is a ‘stickler in good governance’.

But he said that he found his position to be ‘untenable’, adding: ‘I will never be declared a hypocrite.’

Every day, he said, he asks himself the question why other board members did not follow suit. Nonetheless, he said he has been inundated with support from Red Cross members nationwide.

He is still a member of its General Assembly, a governing body, following his appointment as a Government nominee to that board in May 2012. Mr Ryan’s image and biography has now been removed from the Irish Red Cross website.

The head of international relations at the Irish Red Cross, John Roche, is also now seeking legal advice as his position is to be made redundant in September.

The Charities Regulator dealt with 531 concerns last year relating to 351 organisations, a 66% increase on the number of concerns lodged in 2016. More than 9,500 charities are registered in Ireland, and sanctions impose prosecutions at a district court level.

Stepped down over governance issues Felt he was being ‘stonewalled’