By: Michael O’FarrellÂ
Investigations Editor
A ST John of God priest who openly criticised management for taking €1.6m in secret top-ups at a time when residents were being denied biscuits and toothpaste has been ordered to relocate to Kerry.
The surprise reassignment of Fr Derek O’Connell from his longheld post as chaplain at the charity’s Drumcar campus in Co. Louth is widely seen by staff as a punishment for speaking out.
It comes weeks after he openly challenged his superiors about the top-up scandal at a staff meeting.
Last night, a spokesman for the St John of God group said the move was part of a ‘careful process initiated some time ago’ and that ‘any suggestion of any other motive for the reorganisation is factually incorrect and is made entirely without foundation’.
However, when regional director Teresa Mallon sent a circular to announce Fr O’Connell would leave at the end of December, a groundswell of opposition became apparent. And senior social worker Des Hanrahan wrote to Ms Mallon.
She was one of 14 executives who shared in the secret top-ups now under investigation by the HSE. Mr Hanrahan wrote: ‘From what I can gather Fr Derek is being moved because of his honest and outspoken ideals.’ The letter, the authenticity of which the MoS has verified, added that Fr Derek had been one of only four who spoke out at a recent meeting when he criticised the top-ups to senior staff ‘at a time when residents were being denied biscuits, toothpaste, etc’.
He added: ‘Morale, as you know is very low here in the northeast and much of the staff have lost confidence in the Order on account of recent scandals and the accompanying handling of communications with the media and staff.’ He explained how important Fr O’Connell was to residents being relocated to community housing.
‘Fr Derek has the confidence of many and possibly all of the longterm residents here in St Mary’s. If there is anyone who can reassure the most frightened, after the proposed moves to the community, it is him. His face alone, as he visits those who have moved out, would be one of the few consistencies in the lives of the most vulnerable, now that many of the older familiar staff have retired.
‘Staff cannot understand why it is now, of all times, that this transfer is scheduled. It is seen as a punishment for being honest and, while Fr Derek will accept this chalice with grace and humility, the residents he leaves behind will have to once again suffer a loss in their lives at Christmas.
‘I don’t expect people to reverse their decisions and my intervention might only encourage them to dig in, but someone has to speak out for the disenfranchised, the vulnerable, the unheard.’ The MoS understands that some staff at Drumcar circulated a petition opposing the transfer while others were preparing a protest at the public entrance to the facility.
The relocation was deferred until this April but is still scheduled to go ahead. A circular announcing the deferred transfer was circulated by Ms Mallon two days after Mr Hanrahan’s letter.
The circular said the move was to allow Fr O’Connell time to introduce his replacement to residents. News of Fr O’Connell’s transfer comes as management at St John of God await the imminent release of the HSE investigation into financial matters revealed by a series of MoS investigations.
