No threat to guide dog services despite €500,000 losses

The Irish Guide Dogs for the Blind last year plunged into the red to record losses of almost €500,000.

The Cork-based guide dog charity created 59 working- dog partnerships in 2015 and it costs the charity €38,000 for each partnership.

In the annual report for the charity confirming the €479,000 loss for last year, chairman Eddie Murphy allayed the fears of those on the charity’s waiting list that there may be any cuts to services due to the 2015 loss.

Mr Murphy said: “To cut back on the numbers of people we can train would be unthinkable at this time.”

Rather than cutting back, the charity aim to create 70 working dog partnerships this year. The loss last year came as a result of the charity ramping up its guide dog training programme and other training programmes where it spent an additional €278,000, bringing it to €3.35m.

The charity is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year and Mr Murphy said that the organisation was able to fund the 2015 loss from its reserves and they stood at €11m at the end of last year.

In the report, Mr Murphy said: “We are confident that we can turn around our finances as quickly as possible.”

The report states that “the executive and board are aware that there are current problems in the business and the 2016 plan puts in place step changes so that purposes, people and processes are aligned”.

The report anticipates that there will be a trading deficit this year.

There are 178 working guide dog partnerships and more that 250 working assistance dog partnerships in place.

The service is provided free of charge to users and the average waiting list for a dog is currently 15 to 17 months.

The association costs €4.5m to fund each year and last year the charity trained 222 people, as well as placing 26 companion dogs with children and adults with disabilities.

The amount the charity raised from fundraising last year totalled €3.29m, a slight fall from 2014’s total of €3.37m.

However, the cost of raising funds last year increased from €1.4m to €1.476m.

The charity last year received €768,000 in funding from the HSE.

The annual report discloses that the annual gross pay for chief executive , Padraig Mallon last year was €103,574. Staff costs at the charity were €2.79m.

In 2005, the charity launched the first programme of its kind in Europe when it began an assistance dog programme for children with autism and since then has helped 250 families of children with autism.

Commenting on how 2016 has gone to date for the charity, Mr Mallon said: “In the year to the end of September, fundraising income from donations and events is in line with the same period last year.

“We have seen an increase in the year to date in the income received from bequests and legacies. Our volunteers and our staff are focussed on the important pre-Christmas period.

“Hopefully our plans will be successful and if so we should break even this year.”