Rehab inquiry - Come clean or lose funds

The public will be exasperated neither Angela Kerins, outgoing head of the Rehab charity, nor ex-CEO Frank Flannery, who retired in 2006, will attend today’s meeting of the Public Accounts Committee.

According to Mrs Kerins’ solicitors, she will not be attending due to ill health and on medical advice.

Inevitably, that explanation will be perceived by many as a smoke screen. However, she was admitted to hospital after seven hours of questioning with only a short break at the committee’s last meeting.

Not surprisingly, her €240,000 salary has put off many contributors to the group, which also runs a commercial arm. Meanwhile, other charities blame Rehab for a dramatic fall-off in funding. Adding to the committee’s frustration, the Flannery-Kerins axis imposes a veto preventing Rehab board members at today’s meeting from disclosing any details of their salaries, pensions, fees or severance arrangements.

Rehab must be brought in line with other charities. Unless executives come clean about salaries and perks, state funding of €80m a year should be in question.