Irish Countrywomen’s Association criticised over lack of transparency on finances

A former board member of the Irish Countrywomen’s Association (ICA) has criticised an alleged “lack of transparency” in relation to the organisation’s internal finances and “enormous” spending on legal fees, in internal correspondence.

The voluntary organisation has been dealing with internal conflict and disputes between senior members over recent months, following criticism over its governance.

Amid the internal tensions, the organisation’s Annual General Meeting (Agm) in Athlone in late May saw several security staff hired.

In recent internal correspondence, former board member Patricia Madden criticised the disclosures during the Agm that the organisation had spent an “enormous” figure of nearly €300,000 on legal fees last year.

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Ms Madden, who is president of the ICA northeast region, said as a previous board member she had expressed concerns “about governance and financial governance”.

In a June 9th email to other senior officers, seen by The Irish Times, Ms Madden said “the lack of transparency was a matter of difficulty” during her time on the board.

Late last year the ICA board voted to remove Ms Madden and two other members, national secretary Joanne Dunphy Allen and Carol Grogan, federation president of Louth, from the board.

Ms Madden said she was given no reason for being removed from the board..

Her recent correspondence stated she was “alarmed” to learn the national women’s organisation had spent nearly €300,000 on legal fees last year. “There needs to be transparency and accountability on the expenditure of money on legal fees,” she wrote.

One source present at the recent Agm said the “negative atmosphere” in the room was “quite shocking”.

The presence of security staff at the event was “very intimidating” for members seeking to raise concerns about how the organisation was being run, they said. The animosity in the room between different factions was “so strong,” the source added.

Further internal correspondence from several former senior figures criticised the management of the Agm.

“As former offices of the association, we were so disappointed to have witnessed such an unprofessional and member intimidating Agm,” it said.

The June 8th letter was signed by former national president Marie O’Toole, former secretary Shirley Power, former treasurer Mary MacNamara, and former advisory committee chair Susan Potts, whose terms all ended in 2018.

“We can only hope that its failure and the public media embarrassment to our association as a result of it will be a valued lesson in moving forward,” it said.

In a message to members in early June, the organisation said the presence of security at the Agm was “done at the request of several ICA members and the procedures committee”.

The organisation added that it was “not uncommon to have security support at AGMs, particularly where large numbers are confirmed in attendance”.

However, Lille Byrne, chair of the procedures committee, contested that it had requested security staff at the meeting.

In an internal June 9th email, Ms Byrne said the committee was not consulted about security personnel being at the Agm and requested the “misinformation” in the message to members “be retracted forthwith”.

A spokeswoman for the ICA said the organisation had no comment to make.