Dóchas concerned over third resignation at Irish Red Cross

The umbrella group for Ireland's leading aid agencies has said it would be concerned if uncertainty caused by the resignations of three senior managers from the Irish Red Cross were to affect the organisation's efforts to reform.

Secretary general of the Irish Red Cross Donal Forde told staff of his resignation at a meeting last week. Two other members of the five-strong senior management team (head of fundraising and communications Ronan Ryan and head of finance Breda Hawkshaw) resigned in February. All three are working out their notice.

Differences over corporate governance and the direction of the charity are understood to be central to the latest upheaval at the Irish Red Cross, which had been mired in allegations of financial irregularities and poor management.

A report commissioned by the charity in 2009 found it had serious deficiencies in its accounting procedures. However, the charity says it has overhauled its systems and implemented the recommendations of a 2011 report by the Oireachtas Public Accounts Committee.

Dóchas, an umbrella group for 59 development groups, including the Irish Red Cross, said all charitable organisations had a duty to adhere to “the highest possible standards of accountability, transparency and performance”.

High standards

Dóchas said all of its members had signed a code of corporate governance, committing them to the highest standards.

"We would be concerned if the current phase of uncertainty arising from the resignation of three of the organisation's senior managers would have negative consequences for the reform agenda that the Irish Red Cross, with our support, embarked on a number of years ago," said Dóchas director Hans Zomer.

In a statement, Irish Red Cross chairman David O’Callaghan said he regretted the resignations of three managers who had done “sterling work”.

Mr O'Callaghan, a former secretary general of the Department of Defence, said a recruitment process aimed at filling the posts had already begun.

The Irish Red Cross receives substantial State funding. The Department of Defence said its annual grant payment this year was €869,000, which goes towards the salary and administration costs of the charity’s headquarters.

The Department of Foreign Affairs last year provided €2.5 million centrally to the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent.

Some €400,000 of this was earmarked for international programmes managed by the Irish Red Cross.