The Peter McVerry Trust has written down the value of its €162 million property portfolio by €23 million, after uncovering major flaws in its financial accounts.
Two years after crisis struck the housing and homeless charity, it is only now in a position to send overdue financial accounts for 2023 to regulators and the Dáil Public Accounts Committee.
Trust chairman Tony O’Brien, the former HSE chief who joined the board in May, said property values had been overstated by some €14 million in previous accounts as some assets had been double-counted and others did not appear on the fixed asset register.
The writedown also includes some €9 million in accumulated charges not previously taken for depreciation which should have been, reflecting the reduction in asset values through use or age.
“It looks to my eyes, and to those of the senior staff that we have in now, more like a case of incompetence than malevolence,” Mr O’Brien said in an interview hours before the board was due to sign off on the belated accounts for 2023.
“That’s not a good thing,” he added. “I don’t put it forward as a badge of honour or anything like that.”
The trust’s financial deficit was €11.36 million for 2023, the year the government agreed to provide a €15 million rescue package to keep it afloat. The impact of the €23 million property writedown – and other separate adjustments amounting to some €1 million – is to reduce the net value of trust assets by €22 million.
Mr O’Brien goes before a public hearing on Thursday of the Dáil Public Accounts Committee.
[ Peter McVerry Trust `on a journey to renewal and rehabilitation’, claims chairmanOpens in new window ]
With accounts for 2024 still awaited, the McVerry Trust 2023 financial report goes now to the Approved Housing Bodies Regulatory Authority and the Charities Regulator. Inspectors appointed by the two regulators previously made damning findings about misgovernance and lax financial controls in the trust.
‘Renewal and rehabilitation’
Mr O’Brien said the trust, which has received more than €48 million from the State so far this year to support its work, is on a “journey to renewal and rehabilitation” as it seeks to bring its affairs into compliance with regulatory rules.
He said the trust has had no contact from gardaí since they initiated a criminal investigation, following a confidential disclosure from the trust to the force “in relation to invoices issued by a contractor”.
The property writedown comes despite the trust’s earlier 2022 accounts being restated in 2023.
Replying to questions, Mr O’Brien said his predecessor as trust chairwoman – solicitor Deirdre-Ann Barr – had made a complaint to the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) about work undertaken by former trust auditor Donal Ryan & Associates of Stoneybatter, Dublin.
Mr Ryan did not reply to questions emailed directly to him personally and his office, or to a phone call.
Asked about correspondence from the McVerry trust, the ACCA said it “upholds the highest ethical standards” and that all members were required to observe its standards of professional conduct.
“If we are made aware of any member not meeting those standards we investigate and, where appropriate, take disciplinary action. We cannot comment further on this complaint at this time,” the ACCA added.
Mr O’Brien said the trust was in advanced talks to repay the Capuchin order some €3.5 million, subject to signing an agreement, after failing to comply with the terms of a €4.3 million donation.
The Capuchins gave the money to buy five specific properties for a particular purpose but the trust already owned four of them. The trust believes it will need to sell some €2.5 million of assets to part-fund the repayment to the Capuchins.