Charity plans ahead for chief’s successor

The chairman of Goal has confirmed a “plan of succession” is under way for when chief executive and founder John O’Shea decides to step down.

Pat O’Mahoney, who took over as chairman in November following the resignation in controversial circumstances of Ken Fogarty, said Mr O’Shea’s stewardship was not an issue.

However, he said that “inevitably it will be and indeed we’ve embarked on a plan of succession”. He said four posts would immediately be advertised both internally and externally “to build the calibre of team and back up we will have in the future for all the management of goal”.

“He has a big job to do, he pushes himself very hard and we are trying to lessen the load for him and that’s what we’ll continue to do over time,” he said.

Mr O’Mahoney was speaking in a radio interview in response to criticism of the group’s corporate governance structures by former board members.

On Saturday, businessman and former board member Fran Rooney told the Irish Examiner that neither he nor Mr Fogarty could satisfy themselves that Goal was being run in the most efficient way possible because the information needed to demonstrate this was simply not made available to them.

Mr Rooney stepped down in December in protest at the manner in which Mr Fogarty was treated by Mr O’Shea at a November board meeting.

Mr Rooney said there was a war of words between the ex-chairman and Mr O’Shea in a “quite fractious” clash, and he believed it left Mr Fogarty with no choice but to walk away.

He said nobody wanted to damage Mr O’Shea, that he was passionate about Goal but that the aid agency needed to put in place “all of the structures that will make sure the organisation continues well into the future, but with proper governance, proper procedures and a sense of openness and transparency to the public at large and to government”.

Mr O’Mahoney said harsh words were exchanged at the November meeting “mostly on John’s side and for which he has apologised and which is on the public record”.

Mr Fogarty, in a letter to the board, described his treatment by Mr O’Shea as “planned, shocking, insulting, threatening, grossly offensive, completely unnecessary unwarranted ridicule, odium and embarrassment”.

When asked why he — and not the normally vocal Mr O’Shea — was giving a radio interview in response to criticism of Goal, Mr O’Mahoney said the topic at hand was corporate governance and that was a matter for the board. He also defended the organisation against criticisms in a recent audit of its performance, carried out by Irish Aid, the State’s aid agency.

That criticism included failure by Goal to supply the audit with a report reviewing internal security arrangements in the field in the wake of the kidnapping of two Goal staff in Sudan in 2009. Mr O’Mahoney said the report had not been completed at the time of audit but that Irish Aid was now welcome to come and see “whatever is there”.

He was unable to say why Goal’s financial statements for the end of 2010 showed two Goal staff on salaries of more than €100,000 despite Mr O’Shea’s repeated claims that no one was paid more than €100,000.

In relation to Mr O’Shea continuing at the helm of the aid agency, Mr O’Mahoney said: “I think there’s a future for John long-term in Goal. Whether John chooses to remain or not in the position he’s in is another matter.”

Irish Aid said last night its continued support of Goal depended on whether or not the organisation implements the recommendations of its report.