A SUPPORT group for victims of clerical abuse that has received more than €3million from the taxpayer has admitted it has no idea where all the cash has gone.
The charity is now in the extraordinary position of asking anyone who has ever made a donation or received its help to get in touch so it can work out exactly how much money has gone missing.
The bizarre move comes after the HSE stepped in to appoint a temporary administrator to run Right of Place/Second Chance, which is carrying out a full investigation of its finances.
Tom Wall, a director of the Cork-based charity, said last night: ‘As bad as it sounds, we simply do not know exactly how much money the charity has received. And, more worryingly, we don’t know what it has done with the money.
‘I would urge anybody to get in touch with us and let us know how much money they gave us and when.’
He added: ‘There is a feeling at the charity that in the past it has not always acted in the best interests of its members and that is very regrettable.’
Tom Cronin, a survivor of institutional abuse at Presentation Brothers’ Greenmount Industrial School in Cork who helped set up the group in 1999, welcomed the internal audit, which he has been demanding since 2006.
He said last night: ‘Just who actually benefited from this charity is still something of a mystery. That is an outrageous situation and it has gone on for far too long.
‘I am delighted that the board are taking such a bold and innovative step as part of their determination to restructure the charity. I think it’s now just a matter of time before the gardaí are called in.’
Mr Cronin, who resigned from the board of directors in 2001, accused the Government of handing over vast amounts of Exchequer money for more than 10 years without bothering to find out where it was going.
‘The various departments who have given money to this charity have, in my opinion, being a bit relaxed when it comes to checks and balances,’ he said.
The Irish Daily Mail has learned that between 2001 and 2008 the Department of Education gave a total of €980,080 to Right of Place, which claims to represent 1,500 people.
A further €677,000 was received from the Department of Health between 2002 and 2005. Between 2006 and 2010, the HSE – which took over funding for the charity from the Department of Health – gave €1,498,723.
On top of the €3.1million in direct government funding, the charity also received €50,000 Lotto funding in 2003.
Controversially, it also accepted money from some of the very religious orders that ran institutions accused of abusing the people it claims to help.
The exact amount the various organisations gave is not publicly known but it is estimated at €300,000.
The Sisters of Mercy in Cork were involved in sourcing at least €20,000 for the charity but by last year they were demanding to know how the money was actually being spent.
In 2009, Sister Maria McGuinness from St Columba’s Convent in Cork wrote to the charity saying: ‘I would be grateful to receive the detailed breakdown of how the grant of €20,000 was spent.’
Other orders include Brothers of Charity, which gave €5,000 in 2000, the Sisters of Charity, which gave €10,000 in 2006, and the Congregation of the Brothers of Charity. The Galway-based charity donated €6,350 in 2002.
The Rosminians Institute of Charity in Drumcondra, Dublin, donated €5,000 the previous year.
The HSE last night denied ignoring how Right of Place administered taxpayers’ money.
A spokesman said: ‘During the period December 2009 to date, the HSE has worked with the organisation to bring about structure and good governance.
‘In May 2010 all parties signed an agreement which created a pathway to move forward. It provided a mechanism to democratically elect a new board of directors representative of the local committees of the organisation.’
She said the HSE would not be able to give details about its funding plans for Right of Place next year until the Budget has been announced.
Mr Wall said: ‘We are currently going through a major restructuring process. A major part of that is a detailed look at the charity’s finances.’
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gfaCeUccRRg
Watch this link and see WHO IS “STARRING”
See credits at the end, so funny…STARRING????
http://www.rightofplace.com/news/105-president-michael-d-higgins-meets-with-right-of-place-second-chance
I though I would post this link above as I find it amazing that Right of Place were summoned to the Phoenix park because of their recent report, well that’s how I read the link above. It doesn’t say ROP petitioned the Park to meet the President, maybe that’s what happened, someone please clarify
In answer to your question David, All of these groups, not one of them i would safely bet, would be able to provide any receipts for the money they squandered, and if they Did supply receipts, i would bet again, they would be FALSE.
Hi James,
You are so right in saying No one should have anything to do with this Corrupt group. It never has been run, with the interests of the Survivor in mind, even to this very day, Nothing at all has changed.
The new group, is No better than the first one, in Fact it is far worse. And they still do NOTHING for the Survivor, despite all the LIES they tell you.
The person who highlighted this problem before, Mr Yom Wall, still works for (Right of Place Second Chance) and IS on the Board of Directors.
He also IS a member of the group (ALLIANCE) who have their headquarters in Armagh, though he will NOT tell you that.
Treanor who seemingly is the Legal Advisor for (Right of Place Second Chance) had the cheek to ask survivors who were NOT belong to their group, to leave a meeting. Mr Walsh pointed out that you could only be a member of (1) one group.
But you may be assured, they knew of Mr Wall being a double agent, working for (ALLIANCE) and also on the board of Directors of (Right of Place Second Chance) Double Standards.
The government have Never probed this squander of Taxpayers money, and probably never will, as there would be a lot more Red Faces in some department. Saying that, this government seem to have No problems wasting taxpayers money when ever they deem fit.
And Yes, James, to this day, they are STILL funding these Pirates, as we speak.
Bloody great Country.
I would hazzard a guess that this is just the tip of the iceberg. I wonder just how many so called survivors groups (if any) could actually provide receipts or any other proof of where any monies they received intended for the benifit of survivors have gone. I suppose we will just have to keep on wondering!!!!
Just reading the above report clearly highlights
the reasons why Survivors should refrain from having anything to do with this group, it was not run in the interests of Survivors, despite their various claims down the years, and it is my firm opinion that the new outfit will be of no benifit to Survivors either.
When their own board members have to query where all the funding they received over the years went to , surely this is clear evidence of their failures, they cant even provide proof of Survivors they actually helped.
I sincerely hope the Government take these serious concerns into consideration, before they start dishing out further funding to this group, out of the proposed S/T Fund.
Jimmy