CEO reports LGBT+ charity to regulator over financial irregularities
By Ross Semple
An Irish LGBT+ charity is facing an investigation after its outgoing CEO reported financial irregularities to the Charities Regulator.
Áine Duggan, who served as the CEO of the Gay and Lesbian Equality Network (GLEN) from October 2016 until recently, confirmed that she was aware of mismanagement of finances.
In an interview with Morning Ireland, Duggan said: “I would like to be able to stand up and say, ‘I can absolutely one hundred percent stand over a statement that there was no misappropriation’, unfortunately, I can’t.
“Nobody can, and that’s why the audit is so important and I think that it’s really important that we let the audit run its course.”
Ms Duggan said that she noticed irregularities in GLEN’s finances soon after she became CEO. “There were transactions in excess of €60,000 that were not being reported in the management accounts,” she said.
“In some instances you can definitely see that people got into a habit of doing things without necessarily thinking about it and and that was all behavior that needed to be corrected.”
In a statement responding to the allegations yesterday, GLEN said that “all grants received have been used for the intended purpose and has no reason to suspect there has been any misappropriation of fund”. They did not address any of Duggan’s accusations directly.
Statement by the board of GLEN.
Read the full statement here: https://t.co/kViS5qkIb9 pic.twitter.com/IrC095BFt8— GLEN (@glenLGBT) April 16, 2017
In 2015, emergency services were called to the offices of GLEN after a member of staff opened a letter addressed to the organisation which reportedly contained an unidentified blue powder along with a note reading ‘Goodbye’.
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