Directors believe O’Hara Foundation is viable

The directors of the Maureen O’Hara foundation believe the company can be kept open in spite of acrimony surrounding the actress’s affairs.

Accounts filed with the Companies Registration Office have detailed its debt position up to the end of 2011 and listed its expenses for that year.

At that stage, it owed €159,000, up from €77,000 a year earlier, but the directors said it has the wherewithal to trade as a going concern.

The foundation has detailed plans to build and open a €12.5m museum and film school in honour of the 93-year-old Dublin- born actress.

These were drawn up before Ms O’Hara was moved to Idaho by her nephew and grandson last year after a court case to decide who should have power of attorney over her affairs.

One of the foundation’s directors, Carolyn Murphy, had unsuccessfully looked for the court to award her enduring power of attorney after she had managed Ms O’Hara’s affairs since 2005.

More recently, Ms Murphy has begun a High Court defamation action against Ms O’Hara’s nephew, Charles Fitzsimons, who was awarded joint power of attorney.

This case is linked to allegations made against Ms Murphy last year and suggestions that the foundation had not spent money in accordance with Ms O’Hara’s wishes and that its business plan was too ambitious.

The foundation has already defended itself and said it was true to the actress’s dream, and it opened its books to detail the money it had earned and spent.

However, as revealed in the Irish Examiner last year, the foundation has debts and these will exist until either its ambition to open the acting school is fulfilled or it is wound up.

A financial statement, signed by the directors of the company late last month, said given the support of its creditors it could trade on.

“The company is relying on the continued support of its creditors. The directors are of the opinion that such financial support will continue for the foreseeable future and that it is therefore appropriate to prepare the company’s financial statements on a going concern basis,” it said.

Last year, the chief executive of the foundation, Frank McCarthy, said much of the debt related to consultancy costs he earned setting up the company and developing its business plan.

However, Mr McCarthy, an accountant, said he did not expect this to be repaid unless the foundation was trading properly and making a profit.

The company’s auditor, John Callaghan, drew attention to the debt position as presenting a significant uncertainty for the company, but he said he did not need to qualify its position.