Kildare homeless centre's 'catastrophic governance slammed

Kildare’s Kerdiffstown House has become “the symbol of a catastrophic period of governance for one of Ireland’s leading homelessness charities”.

This is according to Deputy Aidan Farrelly TD for Kildare North, after the Public Accounts Committee – of which he is a member – heard recently from representatives of the Peter McVerry Trust.

The PAC heard that after the charity bought the period house near Johnstown money was spent on a peacock enclosure, and €300,000 was spent on widening the driveway.

It was also revealed that an outside lift was being built to enable then CEO Pat Doyle to avoid using the same entrance as staff and service users.

During a marathon session of PAC, Deputy Farrelly questioned the current CEO and the chairman of the board of the charity, all of whom have joined since the discovery of the difficulties.

“This raises huge concerns in terms of governance and oversight at the charity at that time and represents a real failure on the part of governance bodies such as the Charities Regulator to take responsibility at an organisation that provides services to 4,500 of Ireland’s most vulnerable people,” said Deputy Farrelly.

“Kerdiffstown House was a period home originally built by the Aylmer family in the 1860s, and was intended to house up to 120 homeless people from Kildare and Dublin, as well as provide offices for the charity’s executive team – even though there are no existing public transport links to the house.

“Following the hearing, members of PAC will work closely to compile a report on this fiasco – so that hopefully lessons can be learned from this when it comes to the very important task of homeless services and accountability for public expenditure.”