Charity malpractice - Trust broken

DAVID HALL, the external examiner appointed to look into finances and governance at the charity Console, has said that malpractice highlighted by RTÉ will never happen again.

How can he be so sure, considering that the appalling behaviour by the family that ran the organisation went unchecked for years?

A draft report by the Health Service Executive showed founder Paul Kelly and two family members had benefited by almost €500,000 in salaries and cars over three years, and that the family spent thousands of euro of Console money on personal expenses.

Without a new system of accountability that will reveal to the public what charities spend their money on, there can be little faith in the current system. Mr Hall might have checked some of the abuses in Console, but the whole charity sector in Ireland has been badly damaged.

Charities depend on public funding and the public need to trust them. Without accountability that trust may never return.