Charity begins at home and only the homes of the needy should benefit

THERE’S no word for it but ‘scandalous.’ Secret payments to well-paid people, out of either public funds or charitable donations, are a scandal. It has to be highlighted, and it has to be ended.

Thousands and thousands of people in Ireland work in the public sector. Thousands more work in the voluntary and community sectors, their work supported by donations from the public and, to some extent, by the taxpayer. We’d all be much poorer without their work. They are committed to better outcomes for the people with whom they work.

In my work sector, I know people who do dangerous, emotionally draining, exacting jobs. If you are working with a homeless family, or an adult who has an intellectual disability, or a widow who has suffered a traumatic bereavement, you can’t get the results that person needs — the result they’re depending on you to help them with — unless you have empathy and skill.