‘No walk into the sunset’ for CRC board

Central Remedial Clinic officials will not be allowed to “walk off into the sunset” and will be forced to face the consequences of the top-ups scandal engulfing the group.

Fianna Fáil TD and public accounts committee chairman John McGuinness issued the warning after the CRC board resigned en masse from the facility and all related organisations.

The board quit after in effect being ordered out during a tense meeting with HSE director general Tony O’Brien on Thursday.

However, after fears were raised their departure meant they cannot be forced to co-operate with future investigations, Mr McGuinness said the resignations are far from the end of the matter.

“They still have a duty of care to the CRC and the people who use its service, and the charity sector in general, to continue to co-operate with the HSE and the PAC into the matter, which is largely unresolved,” said the TD, who on Thursday insisted the board should not resign until all questions are “adequately” answered.

“There are people who might be concerned they will walk off into the sunset and not appear again. That can’t happen, and won’t happen,” said Mr McGuinness, whose view was echoed by PAC member and Independent TD Shane Ross.

The stance came as the CRC said its board — including Jim Nugent, David Martin, Vincent Brady, Ham Goulding, Frances Sheppard, Mary Day, Jameson Hassia, Ailbhe Rice- Jones and Martin Walsh — has resigned.

They also stood down from the Friends and Supporters of the CRC charity — which sent just €7m out of €27m in donations it received to the CRC between 1998 and 2011. They are also no longer involved in the CRC Medical Devices subsidiary which was bailed out with €500,000 in donations when the recession struck.

Any of the officials who were directors of The Care Trust — which administers the lottery giving charitable funding to Friends and Supporters and Rehab — have also stepped aside.

The CRC said the move was made to ensure “services... continue as [they have] for more than six decades”.

During the meeting with Mr O’Brien, which is part of talks with all groups receiving HSE funds, officials were told they would be replaced by a HSE-appointed administrator.

The firm Boardmatch Ireland will assist in that appointment before a CRC chief executive is recruited “through the public appointments service”.

While the HSE technically cannot order a voluntary group’s board to resign, it can refuse funding. The CRC receives €19m a year from the health service.

Meanwhile, umbrella group Fundraising Ireland — which represents 8,300 groups — said the CRC scandal has caused donations to the sector to slump by 40%. Chief executive Anne Hannify said the drop was punishing innocent groups and vulnerable people dependent on their help.