The HSE has ceased to provide Ireland’s biggest transgender lobbying group with funding after it failed to file its annual accounts on time.
The Transgender Equality Network of Ireland (TENI) received €1.24 million from the HSE between 2017 and 2021. Last year alone the group received €230,000.
However, as reported by The Times and the Burkean, the group has consistently failed to file audited annual accounts in time allotted under law.
Specifically, its 2020 accounts have been past the due date since September, with the HSE reportedly giving the group until last Thursday to finally submit its documentation.
While the group insisted it would meet this deadline, the HSE told the Times it “has not received any correspondence from TENI by the deadline specified. Funding will now be suspended. We are corresponding with TENI to request an urgent meeting.”
In 2017, two TENI directors received almost €6,000 in total in consultancy fees from the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission. However, the same year, TENI’s 2017 accounts, they incorrectly reported that there had been “no transactions between the directors and the company during the period.”
The group later accepted responsibility for this.
“It should have been in there,” said Lynne Tracey, TENI interim joint chief executive.
“We hold our hands up on that one. There was an IHREC-funded project for employers and employees supporting transgender inclusion in the workplace. Sara and Alex both contributed to that.”
She described the incident as a “screw up.”
The Chair of TENI’s board of directors, Sara Phillips, is also on the Executive Board of the National Women’s Council of Ireland.
In addition to funding from the HSE, TENI has also reportedly received £385,000 from the Sigrid Rausing Trust since 2014.
While TENI reportedly filed their 2019 accounts 18 months late, they have been late submitting their accounts three years in a row.