The founder of the Peter McVerry Trust has resigned from a board role following a €15 million State bailout for the homelessness charity and internal governance failings.

Father Peter McVerry held his position as board secretary since 1983 and has resigned along with board chairwoman Deirdre-Ann Barr.

The charity - Ireland's largest provider of Housing First services – was on the brink of financial collapse when it received a €15 million Government bailout in 2023.

Inspectors from the Charities Regulator were appointed to investigate concerns about governance and oversight.

They reported that numerous Trust transactions relating to property purchases, transfers of funds and loans had been carried out without board knowledge.

A Peter McVerry Housing First Intake Team in Dublin in December 2022. Picture via @PMVTrust on Twitter

Fr McVerry has not been directly involved in the running of the charity for many years.

He told Newstalk Breakfast that his decision to resign from his secretarial role was not difficult “in the slightest”.

“This is a non-story if there ever was a non-story,” he said.

“The position is that the people on the board of any charity and the secretary of any charity are expected to rotate on a regular basis so there’s new blood coming in.

“I have been secretary of the Trust since it was founded, which goes back a long, long time and the regulators have asked that we simply rotate the role.”

Fr McVerry said he had held the role for so many years because he was “always available”.

'Our services continue unabated'

He rejected that his resignation was in any way connected to the turmoil over the charity's €15 million State bailout.

“I am totally committed to the Trust, I remain on the board of the Trust, I think the Trust has done fantastic work over the last 40 years - often at times when it got very little support at the beginning from Government sources,” Fr McVerry said.

“It continues to do work and this turmoil that has happened over the last day and has been widely publicised over the last 18 months; our services continue unabated.”

Father Peter McVerry.

According to Fr McVerry, some of the media reporting of his resignation “has been taken out of context”.

“For example, this report says that I’ve been secretary for 40 years,” he said.

“Now, 40 years ago, the Trust – which wasn’t even called the Trust then – ran one hospital.

“So, to say that I have been secretary for 40 years suggests that I’ve been secretary of this large organisation with about a €50 million budget for the last 40 years – totally untrue.”

Fr McVerry said the events of the last two-years has taken a toll on him and Ms Barr.

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Main image: Fr Peter McVerry speaking to protesters facing eviction from Tierney House protesting outside Dublin County Council offices on Wood Quay. Photo: Sam Boal/RollingNews