Fine Gael TD for Limerick has said that the controversy surrounding the top up of payments to senior executives in the Central Remedial Clinic has damaged the charity sector at a very important time of the year for them and it needed to be addressed by Government to see if the practices here had been repeated in any other charity or publicly funded body.
Patrick O’Donovan raised the matter in the Dáil last week with the Minister for Health James Reilly, and in his contribution the Limerick Deputy said that there are concerns amongst the public that the issue which had been raised here would be found in other organisations and it was important that a full audit of bodies who receive money from the State be carried out in order to assure people that the public’s money was being properly spent.
“I am concerned for the service users and those who depend on voluntary contributions at this time of year that the services which are provided to them because of the generosity of others could be impacted. I know from my own personal experience that most charities operate on the basis of ensuring that the donation actually gets to the cause, however these top-ups together with the culture of “Charity Mugging” is a concern for me and I believe we need to address it.”
It is expected that the matter will come before the Oireachtas Public Accounts Committee this week and having raised the issue in the Dáil and at the Fine Gael Parliamentary Party last week, Patrick O’Donovan said he would continue to seek guarantees. The Limerick TD has asked that other Government Departments including Foreign Affairs, Environment, Children,and others, review those bodies and institutions who are funded from their department budgets to try to get a full picture of what’s happening and he has tabled Dáil questions to those Ministers on that basis.