As expected, the Peter McVerry Trust, whose purpose is to look after homeless people, has formally requested that the state provide them with a bailout.
They have written to the Department of Housing asking for assistance in addressing the serious level of PAYE tax debt and other sums owed to creditors.
Gript was one of the few outlets which had managed to access the Trust’s accounts for 2022 prior to their being taken down as the seriousness of the situation facing the company became apparent.
On the basis of those accounts, and by comparing them to previous years, it appears that much of the difficulties facing the Trust may be related to the large expansion in their property portfolio.
As the section below indicates, their fixed assets expanded by more than €50 million between 2021 and 2022 alone.
Most of that expansion was the consequence of the addition of €53.2 million to the freehold property held by the Trust.
That was on top of another €32.4 million which was purchased in 2021. That left the Peter McVerry Trust in control of €180 million in assets, which compares to the €11.6 million which they had in 2014.
2014 was, however, a significant year in the beginning of what can be fairly described as somewhat of a property splurge. The Trust’s financial report for 2014 refers to it as having “acquired twelve properties under the C.A.S scheme.”
The Capital Assistance Scheme uses taxpayer/public funds to enable Approved Housing Bodies such as the Trust to buy properties to be used to house people with difficulties.
The acquisition of property for that purpose was well intentioned, but serious questions need to be asked now about how the Trust has been run, and indeed whether its expansion from what was initially an almost entirely voluntary charity – to what is in effect now a large company – has helped to significantly ease the homelessness problem.
Apart from its property portfolio – some of which has now already been sold, and more of which is planned to be sold – the Trust’s mushrooming is indicated by the fact that in 2022 it employed 766 people. Their wages and salaries accounted for more than €30.5 million, and overall operational costs including “property running” amounted to €53.6 million.
That was 87% of its total income of €61.7 million of which €43,4 million came directly from state grants, including from Government departments, local authorities and the Dublin Regional Housing Executive (DHRE).
The DHRE has already assisted it in addressing some of its debts.
The extent of that debt, and the manner in which it came to be an insurmountable barrier to the Trust continuing as normal activities can be seen from the following. Creditors grew to €7.8 million from 2021 and €5.8 million is owed in PAYE and social welfare.
In common with many others in the NGO and accommodation sector, the McVerry Trust has drawn down significant amounts of state funding through its involvement in providing for both Ukrainian refugees and those claiming asylum under the International Protection scheme.
In 2021 the Trust drew down more than €821,000 from the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth (DCEDIY), including €118,494 for work connected to the Augusta Lodge in Westport, Mayo.
So far this year, up to a payment made on June 29, the McVerry Trust had drawn down another €898,842 from the DCEDIY in payments for the accommodation and other services provided for both Ukrainian and Internal Protection applicants.
The Trust had called for the seizure by the state of empty properties to be used as emergency refugee accommodation. Their own difficulties would not suggest that they are necessarily good advisors, nor a safe pair of hands when it comes to using taxpayer’s money or the power of the state for any of this sort of thing.
Nor indeed, do the complaints regarding how the Trust has administered properties under its control.
In September 2022, Gript reported on local anger when it was discovered that a person had been murdered in a flat in Kevin Barry House in Dublin. Residents had previously made complaints regarding criminal and anti-social behaviour in what they described as a “drug den.”
No one doubts the good intentions of Fr. Peter McVerry and those volunteers and others who set out to provide Christian charity for homeless people and drug abusers.
People are, however, entitled to ask whether it is any better at addressing those issues now than it was before it transmogrified into a pretty vast and mostly state funded NGO with a property portfolio worth €180 million.
It must also be wondered whether the best interests of anyone, and particularly the homeless themselves and the communities in which they are most prevalent are best served by bailing out the Peter McVerry Trust as it is currently constituted.
Loading ...
Accountant here
I have never ever seen PAYE & Social Welfare classified as falling due after more than one year.
This suggests either:
A The Revenue have cut a deal with the Trust to allow for a deferral of payments
OR
B The Trust has decided this for itself
Taking A above as the explanation one would really wonder about the Revenue cutting a deal to defer payment of taxes owed whilst the entity in question continues to pay down debt & interest incurred, hire more staff and wages incurred.
If A above is true then questions should be asked of the Revenue as to “what is going on?”