Rehab seeks legal advice over Shatter’s Dáil comments

The Rehab Group is to seek legal advice about remarks made in the Dáil by Minister for Justice Alan Shatter about two legal cases the group is involved in against the State.

In a statement after a scheduled board meeting last night, the group said the board “discussed the current legal cases regarding the charity lotteries compensation fund and the recent comments made by the Minister for Justice Mr. Alan Shatter in this regard.

“The Board is very concerned about this development and has asked the executive to take legal advice on the matter.”

Mr Shatter made the remarks in the Dáil during a private member’s debate calling for the full implementation of the 2009 Charities Act. One case is linked to the windup of the charities lottery fund and judgment is awaited, while the second is a case under competition law linked to the national lottery.

During the three-hour meeting at the Rehab Group's headquarters in Sandymount, Dublin the board also endorsed the statement last week of the charity's chairman Brian Kerr that a special board meeting would be held on February 17th to consider the disclosure of salaries of the group's chief executive and group management team.

Not all of the board’s members were in attendance last night and the Rehab Group said the meeting would be held on February 17th “to ensure that all directors and advisors can be present, that appropriate professional advice can be taken in advance and that the matter can be given appropriate time for consideration at that meeting”.

The Rebab Group board also expressed concern about some of the reportage of the controversy involving the disability charity. It described some media reports as “misleading and inaccurate” and said it “has asked the executive to examine this matter further with a view to taking appropriate action where necessary”.

It is understood independent reports have been commissioned which will look at benchmarking salaries with comparable organisations, data protection obligations the charity has to staff and how details of senior salaries might be released.