25 Goal jobs to go after ‘tough’ year

Irish aid agency Goal is seeking up to 25 redundancies after a “challenging” 2016.

The agency released a statement on the matter yesterday which said it is taking steps to restore confidence in the charity after last year’s events.

Last April, Goal and other charities were ordered to halt procurement in Syria (using some US funds) because the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) had started an investigation into alleged bribery and bid rigging.

Then last August, it emerged the Department of Foreign Affairs was withholding almost €3m in funding from the charity.

“The complaints from the Department of Foreign Affairs was that a story [in relation to the US investigation into Goal] appeared in the media and we didn’t give them notification about that in advance, for which we acknowledge we should have done that and we apologise for it,” said Goal’s former CEO Barry Andrews last August.

Mr Andrews’s resignation then followed last October.

Yesterday’s statement said the seeking of the 25 redundancies reflects “a much tighter funding environment for Goal in 2017”.

Goal staff were informed about the redundancy proposals in writing on Wednesday. Goal has a staff of 121 in its Dublin and London offices, and the redundancies are open to people in both locations.

In an effort to avoid compulsory redundancies, a two-week voluntary redundancy application period has been opened.

Any expected redundancies, either selected or voluntary, will take place in early March, with staff entitled to a statutory redundancy package.

Goal general manager, Celine Fitzgerald, said the agency has already made strides in recovering donor trust in the group as a result of last year’s difficulties.

She said: “2016 was a challenging year for Goal as we sought to continue our relief efforts whilst also taking significant steps to restore the confidence of our donors in our systems, controls and management capacity.

“The last number of weeks have seen substantive progress in that regard with Irish Aid taking the welcome decision to resume payments to Goal of almost €4m in funds due for 2016, and USAID recently approving the awarding of a grant to Goal for our programmes in Honduras, Ethiopia and Sudan.

“Despite this progress and ongoing discussions with our major donors in respect of future funding we need to develop a more sustainable cost base to support our ongoing humanitarian relief efforts and regrettably, this is likely to involve some redundancies.”

Since Goal began in 1977 it has spent over €910m on humanitarian programmes in more than 50 countries.

The charity receives support from the European Union, the United Nations and the governments of Ireland, the UK, and the US, as well as from trusts and the general public.