LAST UPDATE | 11 hrs ago

A LIQUIDATOR HAS been appointed to Liberty Recycling after a request from the Charities Regulator.

The Regulator found there was “little or no effective management” of the charity.

As part of the Regulator’s petition to wind up the charity, the High Court ordered the appointment which places executive control of the charity into independent hands immediately. 

It sought the order under the Charities Act 2009. 

After engagement with trustees in Liberty Recycling, it found “little or no effective management or oversight of the Charity’s activities”.

The Regulator petitioned the court under grounds in section 74(1) of the act which says “property of the Charity is being misapplied or is being dealt with or managed in a manner than endangers the property”.

It also says there has been “misconduct or other mismanagement on the part of any charity trustee or member of staff in relation to the affairs of the charity” and there is “no effective management or oversight of the activities of the Charity by its trustees or directors”.

KPMG’s Shane McCarthy and Cormac O’Connor have been appointed as joint provisional liquidators.

In wide-ranging searches in last week across Dublin and other counties, gardaí targeted locations where they seized two BMW X5 cars, watches and designer bags as part of an investigation into a Dublin-based charity. No one was arrested by gardaí.

The searches were led by detectives from the money laundering investigation unit at the Garda National Economic Crime Bureau, who executed the search warrants on locations in Dublin, eastern and southern regions on Tuesday and Wednesday.

The Regulator said there will be a hearing on the winding up application in November.

The charity is chaired by Sinn Féin TD Aengus Ó Snodaigh. In a statement on Tuesday evening a party spokesperson said the Dublin TD “reiterated his support for the ongoing garda investigation”.

They said he “has remained in regular engagement with the office of the Charities Regulator over the past week since confirmation of the investigation emerged, and he remains available to assist An Garda Síochána with their inquiries”.

Ó Snodaigh met with the liquidators earlier today.

He said it is his intention “to call an emergency board meeting of the associated company, Liberty Global Exports Company Limited, with the intention of looking at all options, including the winding-up of the company”.

The party spokesperson also said “the liquidators had agreed to his request to facilitate a series of meetings with the charity’s staff and stakeholders tomorrow”,

The company recorded a total income of €3,633,263 for the financial year ending in December 2024, and expenditure of €3,980,895.

The company last declared that it was in full compliance with the Charities Governance Code on 31 October 2025. The code is issued by the Charities Regulator to “encourage and facilitate the better administration and management of charitable organisations”. 

Additional reporting by Sophie Finn.