McVerry Trust property maintenance contractor linked to former long-time auditor

A company carrying out a significant amount of property maintenance work for the Peter McVerry Trust is run by the brother of the former long-time auditor of the homelessness charity, records show.

Rubycon Developments, one of the trust’s biggest contractors, is involved in ongoing maintenance and renovation works on the charity’s portfolio of more than 600 properties.

Records show the company has links to Donal Ryan, whose firm Donal Ryan & Associates audited the charity’s accounts for 15 years up until last year.

The owner and director of Rubycon, Anthony Ryan (42), Derrahiney, Portumna, Co Galway, is the brother of Donal Ryan (51), Manor Street, Dublin 7.

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Several current and former employees of the homelessness charity confirmed Rubycon was one of its largest contractors. Rubycon lists the trust as one of its main clients and an “esteemed partner” on its own website.

The charity, one of the main providers of homeless services in the State, has seen a financial crisis bring it to the brink of collapse in recent months. Financial and governance concerns at the charity are being investigated by the Charities Regulator and the Approved Housing Bodies Regulatory Authority.

The Irish Times previously reported that the charity bought nine apartments in Birr, Co Offaly, which had been developed by Donal Ryan.

The apartments were bought by the trust in 2018 for at least €945,000, at the same time Donal Ryan & Associates was auditing the charity’s accounts. The accountancy firm was the charity’s auditors from late 2006 until early last year, financial filings show.

Both Anthony and Donal Ryan are listed as the sole directors of a separate company, Duchas Management, set up to manage several properties in Birr.

Records incorporating the company in 2008 list the names of six members of the family, including Donal and Anthony Ryan, as initial shareholders, which match the names of the family listed in a 2021 public notice.

Rubycon, which has an address near Clonmel, Co Tipperary, describes itself as a “leading provider of renovation and building maintenance services”. Records show the firm is owned by a holding company that has €1.5 million in assets, which itself is 80 per cent owned by Anthony Ryan.

Donal and Anthony Ryan are listed as joint applicants on previous planning applications submitted to Offaly County Council for the site in Birr, where the apartments later bought by the Peter McVerry Trust were developed.

Neither Donal Ryan, Anthony Ryan, Rubycon Developments, Donal Ryan & Associates nor the Peter McVerry Trust responded to repeated contacts seeking responses to queries.

Minister for Housing Darragh O’Brien is expected to bring a memo to Cabinet on Tuesday seeking approval for a €15 million bailout of the Peter McVerry Trust.

Under the proposal, the State funding would be released on a phased basis between now and March 2024.

The charity, one of the largest providers of homeless services in the country, is believed to require the bailout by the first week of December to keep running its services.

The trust will have to prepare a detailed plan by the end of February setting out “how it will put itself back on a sustainable footing”, one Department of Housing source said.

The funding will also be tied to commitments that the charity improves basic budgetary and financial practices, which had been found to be subpar, the source said.

The charity owes trade creditors about €7 million and recently said it has had to review its plans to deliver 500 homes over the next three years, due to current financial troubles. The trust is predominantly State-funded, receiving more than €40 million from public bodies last year.