By: Michael O’Farrell
Investigations Editor
THE future of a taxpayer-funded charity which provides services to thousands is hanging in the balance amid a continuing cash crisis, the Irish Mail on Sunday can reveal.
St John of God Community Services (SJOGCS) has failed to secure funding commitments from the HSE and, as a result, has been unable to sign off on its 2018 accounts which are more than four months overdue.
Failing to file accounts is a breach of company law that can result in being struck off. It is also a breach of the charity’s 2018 Service Level Agreement with the HSE.
In 2017, SJOGCS received more than €140m from the taxpayer via the HSE to care for more than 8,000 mental health and intellectually disabled clients nationwide.
SJOG Community Services reported a deficit of €9m in 2017 and a further ‘substantial deficit’ was predicted for 2018. The size of the current shortfall is unknown.
However, it is known that in April 2018 the HSE agreed to a €3.5m top-up and provided a further €3m advance the following month. It is likely that further advances have been made since.
As crisis talks with the HSE continue, SJOGCS has warned that it is operating ‘well in excess of overdraft limits’ and has been forced to delay payments to suppliers.
The charity has also warned that it does not have the funding ‘required to meet ongoing ‘regulatory requirements’. The impact of this has been seen in repeated criticism of care standards by watchdog Hiqa.
The crisis at the charity has been exacerbated by repeated scandals uncovered by MoS investigations in recent years.
These include €6m in top-ups secretly paid to senior managers – at a time when the t lli SJOGCS was telling the HSE no such payments were being made.
Additionally, the St John of God Order – which controls the charity – was exposed as having sent a religious brother facing repeated allegations of child abuse to work with children in Malawi.
The current cash crisis has also been augmented by clear signals from the SJOG Order that it is no longer able or willing to provide bailout funding.
In the absence of assurances from the HSE about continued funding, the entire future of the charity remains at risk and a takeover of certain operations by the HSE remains a possibility.
In a statement to the MoS, a spokesman for SJOG said the entire mental health sector had been underfunded for years resulting in ‘serious financial hardship’.
The spokesman said that the charity ‘treats its governance and financial reporting duties with the utmost importance’. However, he said that the 2018 accounts cannot be signed off on without ‘financial assurances in respect of additional funding’.
A spokesman for the HSE said: ‘The HSE is working with SJOGCS in relation to ensuring the sustainability of services and supports for vulnerable adults and children.’
