Goal board votes in favour of O'Shea

THE BOARD OF humanitarian agency Goal has expressed full confidence in the charity’s chief executive, John O’Shea.

The statement follows the resignation on Friday of one of its directors, Fran Rooney, amid complaints over “corporate management issues” at the charity.

Mr Rooney, the former chief executive of the Football Association of Ireland, resigned after 3½ months, bringing to seven the number of people who have resigned from the Goal board in the past year.

Senior counsel Ken Fogarty, appointed chairman of the Goal board in August, left the charity two weeks ago. Mr Fogarty resigned his position after a disagreement with Mr O’Shea about changes to the corporate governance he was trying to introduce at the organisation.

Speaking to The Irish Timeson Friday, Mr Fogarty said he had unearthed a number of "corporate management issues" at the charity that had to be addressed. He said other board members had been made aware of the "legal and administrative pitfalls" at the charity and he believed the changes would be introduced but it would take time.

Mr Fogarty said the charity’s structure had been fit for purpose in 1977 but the world was a different place now.

Mr Fogarty’s predecessor, Jerry Sheehan, also stepped down, along with directors Andy Butler, Conor Sparks and David Almain. A former director, John Wilson, resigned in January.

At a meeting on Friday, the Goal board expressed “full confidence [in] and support” of Mr O’Shea. It also announced the appointment of a new chairman, three-time Irish Medicines Board chairman Pat O’Mahony.

In a statement issued yesterday, the charity said Goal was audited annually by Deloitte Touche and regularly underwent “rigorous financial scrutiny” from donors such as the Irish and British governments and the EU.

The board said it was “satisfied that under the direction of John O’Shea, Goal will continue to be regarded as one of the world’s leading humanitarian agencies”.

The statement also thanked Mr Fogarty and Mr Rooney for their contribution.