Results 1-20 of 6,529 for speaker:Paul McAuliffe
- Public Accounts Committee: Exceptional Funding of the Peter McVerry Trust: Discussion (20 Nov 2025)
Paul McAuliffe: I thank Mr. Doherty for being with us today. It is not an easy thing to come before an Oireachtas committee. His willingness to do so is very much appreciated. I join him in acknowledging the huge work of Peter McVerry, a constituent of mine and somebody I know has done tremendous work, but also the many people within the trust who I imagine have lived with this shadow over the work they...
- Public Accounts Committee: Exceptional Funding of the Peter McVerry Trust: Discussion (20 Nov 2025)
Paul McAuliffe: Was it clear to Mr. Doherty then, or is it clear to him now, where that money had gone?
- Public Accounts Committee: Exceptional Funding of the Peter McVerry Trust: Discussion (20 Nov 2025)
Paul McAuliffe: Had Rubycon carried out work for Assisi?
- Public Accounts Committee: Exceptional Funding of the Peter McVerry Trust: Discussion (20 Nov 2025)
Paul McAuliffe: Can Mr. Doherty clarify what that payment amounted to?
- Public Accounts Committee: Exceptional Funding of the Peter McVerry Trust: Discussion (20 Nov 2025)
Paul McAuliffe: Let me get to those two payments. The €1 million was taken from a restricted account with the Peter McVerry Trust, transferred to Assisi and, subsequently on the same day, transferred to Rubycon for work that Assisi had not incurred. Why was that money transferred to Assisi?
- Public Accounts Committee: Exceptional Funding of the Peter McVerry Trust: Discussion (20 Nov 2025)
Paul McAuliffe: The trust had liabilities, rather than Assisi.
- Public Accounts Committee: Exceptional Funding of the Peter McVerry Trust: Discussion (20 Nov 2025)
Paul McAuliffe: Let me return to that. The second payment was a payment of €350,000 to a private company called New Directions. Will Mr. Doherty tell me about his understanding of that?
- Public Accounts Committee: Exceptional Funding of the Peter McVerry Trust: Discussion (20 Nov 2025)
Paul McAuliffe: The outgoing CEO of the Peter McVerry Trust was taking up a new employment with New Directions and this payment was made from the Peter McVerry Trust to a non-charitable private company called New Directions.
- Public Accounts Committee: Exceptional Funding of the Peter McVerry Trust: Discussion (20 Nov 2025)
Paul McAuliffe: Why would anyone in the Peter McVerry Trust, the board or anybody else, approve a payment of that nature to a non-charitable company?
- Public Accounts Committee: Exceptional Funding of the Peter McVerry Trust: Discussion (20 Nov 2025)
Paul McAuliffe: Again, that is not in the interest of the Peter McVerry Trust or the people who donated to the Peter McVerry Trust.
- Public Accounts Committee: Exceptional Funding of the Peter McVerry Trust: Discussion (20 Nov 2025)
Paul McAuliffe: My colleagues will follow up with the financial controls that would allow that sort of arrangement to be put in place. There are so many aspects of the evidence we have in front of us and so many different properties. The Kerdiffstown House property is the one that I thought in some ways summed up some of what was going on. Kerdiffstown House was a historic period property in Kildare. Is...
- Public Accounts Committee: Exceptional Funding of the Peter McVerry Trust: Discussion (20 Nov 2025)
Paul McAuliffe: It had previously been owned by the Society of St. Vincent de Paul. Is that correct?
- Public Accounts Committee: Exceptional Funding of the Peter McVerry Trust: Discussion (20 Nov 2025)
Paul McAuliffe: The amount of money spent on Kerdiffstown House seems exceptional. There were improvements to the driveway. Is that correct?
- Public Accounts Committee: Exceptional Funding of the Peter McVerry Trust: Discussion (20 Nov 2025)
Paul McAuliffe: Was money spent on a lift, not a first lift but a second lift for the property?
- Public Accounts Committee: Exceptional Funding of the Peter McVerry Trust: Discussion (20 Nov 2025)
Paul McAuliffe: Why would a lift shaft be constructed at the side of a property?
- Public Accounts Committee: Exceptional Funding of the Peter McVerry Trust: Discussion (20 Nov 2025)
Paul McAuliffe: It turned out that those works were not in compliance with planning.
- Public Accounts Committee: Exceptional Funding of the Peter McVerry Trust: Discussion (20 Nov 2025)
Paul McAuliffe: Of all the different improvements to the property - and it is an historic property - the one I was least expecting was a peacock enclosure.
- Public Accounts Committee: Exceptional Funding of the Peter McVerry Trust: Discussion (20 Nov 2025)
Paul McAuliffe: Can I ask a daft question? Why in God's name would anyone donate money to the Peter McVerry Trust? Why would anyone in the trust think it was permissible or of good value to the service users to have a peacock enclosure, albeit on an historic property?
- Public Accounts Committee: Exceptional Funding of the Peter McVerry Trust: Discussion (20 Nov 2025)
Paul McAuliffe: The other common theme is the conflicts of interest that arose. I asked about Rubycon Developments and others may ask about other conflicts. There appears to be a conflict of interest with regard to Rubycon. Will Mr. Doherty give us his understanding of it?
- Public Accounts Committee: Exceptional Funding of the Peter McVerry Trust: Discussion (20 Nov 2025)
Paul McAuliffe: In many ways, the peacocks were the least of Mr. Doherty's worries.