Former CEO says McVerry Trust Board limited contact with Regulator

The board of the Peter McVerry Trust instructed the charity's then CEO not to engage loosely with the Charity Regulator over governance matters at the troubled Trust, correspondence seen by Prime Time shows.

In a letter sent to then-CEO Francis Doherty in September 2023, McVerry Trust chair Deirdre-Ann Barr wrote, “I confirm the Board's direction to you not to issue any communications, correspondence or comments to any regulator or party other interested parties without prior signature and approval by the Board or me as Chairman of the Board.”

“The exception to this are communications related to ordinary course operations matters.”

Two months ago, Mr. Doherty had written to the Charity Regulator and the Approved Housing Organizations Regulator, warning them of serious financial and debt issues at the charity.

He had taken over the role of CEO from Pat Doyle, who was Chief Executive of the charity for 18 years until May 2023.

Mr Doherty resigned two weeks after receiving the letter from the chairman. While the board was within its rights to require that all communications with him be cleared, Mr. Doherty said the order made his position as CEO “untenable”.

In his resignation letter, he stated: “…despite the progress I have made and the immediate financial challenges I have overcome as CEO, I have been left in an untenable position by the Trustees … a contempt order has been placed. limiting me from talking to stakeholders about the organization's financial situation.”

Doherty also revealed he was shocked when the extent of the charity's financial difficulties became clear to him on becoming CEO.

“When I assumed my role on June 1, I found the organization in dire financial straits, with insufficient funds to meet creditors, payroll and revenue commitments. In my four months as CEO, I developed and began operationalizing a financial stability plan reduced the liabilities of trade creditors from 9 million to 6.9 million”.

The letter from the board chairman instructing him to obtain board approval before corresponding with regulators, Mr. Doherty in the performance of his duties as CEO.

“We have confidence in your ability to work with us to achieve the goals of the organization,” the September 2023 letter from the board chairman said.

The chairman wrote that it was the board's position “that ideally there should be a line of communication from the organization in consultation with Carr Communications and with all statements approved by the Board in advance.”

“The board and I want to be very clear about our expectations of you in your role as CEO of the Peter McVerry Trust,” the letter said, before adding that Mr. Doherty should focus on the day-to-day running of the organization and assisting the board with current financial matters.

He further added that “The Board's priority is to secure the future of the organization so that we can continue to fulfill our charitable purpose.”

“Any investigation and review of the actions of prior personnel is a decision the Board must make. Our collective priority at this point in time is to stabilize the organization, work with our funders and engage with reviews/inspections.”

Peter McVerry's trust declined to comment on the letter from the board and Mr. McVerry's interpretation. Her Doherty as an “offensive order”.

Mr Doherty was approached for comment on this story but declined to do so.

Over the past two weeks, Prime Time has reported on a number of governance problems at the charity.

As revealed on June 6, a £4.73 million donation from the Capuchin Day Center for Homeless People, best known for running a busy soup kitchen in Dublin, was diverted to purposes other than those for which it was intended.

Capuchin money given to the McVerry Trust on the condition that it be used only for the purchase of specific properties was spent on taxes and other debts and operating costs, in violation of a legal agreement with the Capuchins.

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Separately, new figures provided to Prime Time show that £1.25 million of taxpayers' money was used to fund a contract awarded by the Peter McVerry Trust in breach of public procurement rules.

As Prime Time previously reported, the contract was awarded by Kildare-based homelessness charity Passenger Travel Solutions, but funded by the Dublin Regional Homelessness Executive (DRHE).

Passenger Travel Solutions is co-owned by Alan Bollard, who is known by former McVerry Trust CEO Pat Doyle. Mr Doyle ran the charity from 2005 to 2023. The breach of procurement rules meant other companies would have been denied the chance to bid for the contract, possibly at a lower cost to the charity and, therefore , for the state.

The figures, provided by DRHE, the charity's main funder, show it paid a total of £1.25m from October 2018 to June 2024 for a bus service that transports residents to and from a McVerry Trust emergency accommodation center in Kildaren. The charge for the transport service was included as part of a wider agreement DRHE has with the McVerry Trust to operate the 100-bed facility at Kerdiffstown near Naas.

Annual totals paid for the transport service ranged from 199,700 for each of 2022 and 2023, to 260,191 in 2019. In the six months to June 2024, DRHE paid 66,500 for the bus service.

Currently, the threshold above which a service or contract provided by a public body (or a body primarily financed by the public) must be tendered is 50,000.

At the time the PTS service was launched in October 2018, the threshold was 25,000.

DRHE said the charity has recently agreed to begin a formal tendering process for this transport service.

The co-owner of Passenger Travel Solutions, Mr. Bollard, is also a tenant of the Peter McVerry Trust. As Prime Time reported on Tuesday, he and his partner have a 25-year lease on one of the charity's houses at a rent of 80% of the market rate.

It is not clear how Bollard qualified to be a tenant of the homeless charity, as public records show he owned his home until shortly before he moved to the McVerry Trust property in late 2016.

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MORE: Tenant McVerry Trust wins bus contract without tender process

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As a homeless charity, the McVerry Trust provides accommodation for people on the social housing list. People who live in their own homes do not qualify to be on that list. Those allocated accommodation usually wait years.

The McVerry Trust and its former CEO Pat Doyle declined to comment on the lease, but both separately said they were cooperating with regulators' investigations. Bollard declined to comment when asked how he qualified for a lease with the charity.

While there is no suggestion that Mr. Bollard has done anything inappropriate, the case raises concerns about the governance of the Peter McVerry Trust.

The charity declined to comment on governance questions, however, it told Prime Time it “has implemented new organizational policies and procedures and remains focused on delivering its services within its resources”.

The McVerry Trust, which recently received a £15m grant from the state, is one of Ireland's largest homelessness charities, with a total income in 2022 of £62m. According to its 2022 annual report, it employed 530 full-time equivalent staff, supporting 4,425 people in adult services and housing homeless families in that year.

Dublin Regional Homelessness Executive gave over £19 million to the charity in 2022, representing almost half of the £43 million it received in state funding that year.