Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees
Thursday, 20 November 2025
Public Accounts Committee
Exceptional Funding of the Peter McVerry Trust: Discussion
2:00 am
Mr. David Kelly:
There are two separate issues. There is the underbidding issue and then there is the overall funding model. We have done fairly extensive work in terms of that overall funding model. I mentioned some of it earlier. There would have been concerns. I am fully aware that there were broader concerns in the NGO sector in relation to the funding model, and extensive work has been done through the CCMA and our own review. Therefore, change has already been implemented in terms of fully funding services. That is in place now, moving towards an increased overhead payment to cover the other services the AHBs need to do in terms of finance, communications and ensuring they can meet regulatory compliance. A lot of that stuff is in relation to broader funding concerns, and I fully accept that. Colleagues and I sat down with the homeless NGOs on that recently. We had a discussion on progress two weeks ago. I am fully aware that this is an issue, but I would separate that from the idea of underbidding.