THE CHARITIES REGULATORY Authority has appointed inspectors to carry out an investigation into the Peter McVerry Trust after financial and governance issues were highlighted in the charity.
This is the second regulator to appoint an inspector to the charity in recent weeks.
The Approved Housing Bodies Regulatory Authority (AHBRA) said in September it appointed the inspectors to conduct a statutory investigation of the homelessness charity.
The charities regulator said it will “continue to liaise closely” with AHBRA and that a “Memorandum of Understanding” is in place which allows the group to cooperate and share information for the purpose of performing their respective functions.
The watchdog’s chief executive, Helen Martin, said that given the number of concerns raised by the charity, in correspondence with the authority, the appointment and subsequent investigation is “warranted”.
In further turmoil for the trust, its chief executive, Francis Doherty, resigned yesterday afternoon.
The charity confirmed in August that it was “experiencing cash flow pressures that are more acute than would traditionally be the case, even allowing for the summer period”.
Two weeks ago, Father Peter McVerry, the Trust’s founder, said there is no evidence of fraud at the charity and that its services will not be impacted by the investigation.
“It’s a cashflow problem,” he told South East Radio in September.
“One of the difficulties is our tax liabilities. During Covid, we along with hundreds of thousands of other organisations were allowed to warehouse our tax liabilities,” the homelessness campaigner said.
“During that time, our fundraising events were cancelled, our income dropped substantially, so now we’re having to pay back the back taxes, along with our monthly tax liability for PAYE and PRSI for over 500 employees, so that’s challenging.
“There is absolutely no evidence of financial fraud or misappropriation of funds, let me be very clear with that,” he added.
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