Irish Red Cross vs Blogger

DeVore

Its inconceivable that €162,000 could be "misplaced" like this... An account with 162,000 euros in it in a freaking REGIONAL bank branch would attract a manager to try to "assist" (read: move the money into life assurance, long term deposit or shares... all good for the bank). So I cant understand how this mistake could have happened.

DeV.

Mahatma coat

the 162 grand should be enough to warrant a Garda investigation, at the least its gross incompetence and this should be enough to cement this Noel Fellas case, However this having occured in Ireland how many of ye believe that this was a simple honest mistake, I've seen things like this before on comittees and such that raise funds for specific stuff, Albeit with smaller figures but theivery is Theivery whether it be 1penny or one Million Euro, Monies get 'misplaced' then once people have 'forgotten' and the initial purpose for raising the money is complete a swift accounting stroke says that the money WAS spent and lo and behold some fecker is a few grand better off.

DeVore

Noel's whistle blowing goes much further then this accounting mistake. He outlines a systemic issue of mismanagement and institutionalised incompetence.

They paid Declan O'Sullivan 320,000 over the two years while he was a "financial consultant". In that time period the "charity" ran up a financial deficit of 700,000.

Thats fncking immoral. Christ, I wont even take my taxi fare from Santas Strike Force cos I feel bad about. Fnck them and fnck him!


DeV.

demonspawn

We should round up all the crooked managers of this country, line them up against the wall and pelt them with month old scones, then send them all to Africa for a few years to get a taste of the real world. If they behave we'll let them bring the scones. If and when they've proven themselves down there, we can consider allowing them back into this country to serve their time in prison.

This is the only way forward.

fontanalis

demonspawn wrote: »

We should round up all the crooked managers of this country, line them up against the wall and pelt them with month old scones, then send them all to Africa for a few years to get a taste of the real world. If they behave we'll let them bring the scones. If and when they've proven themselves down there, we can consider allowing them back into this country to serve their time in prison.

This is the only way forward.

Not the only way, but a good way.
But seriously, shocking stuff going on. It doesn't say much when even a countries red cross is bent.

Mahatma coat

Ah but consultancy 'fees' and general 'mismanagement' can be hidden and excused and written off in many cases, the smoking gun of a bank account with 162 Grand hidden in it would be the door buster on that case IMO, its about starting at the right spot. and thats the one most likely to result in a criminal onviction, then once you have one of them by the gonads you put the squeeze on the rest and I guarantee someone will Sing like a canary for 'percieved Immunity';)

demonspawn

Mahatma coat wrote: »

Ah but consultancy 'fees' and general 'mismanagement' can be hidden and excused and written off in many cases, the smoking gun of a bank account with 162 Grand hidden in it would be the door buster on that case IMO, its about starting at the right spot. and thats the one most likely to result in a criminal onviction, then once you have one of them by the gonads you put the squeeze on the rest and I guarantee someone will Sing like a canary for 'percieved Immunity';)

Now I'm not one for conspiracy theories but I'd say Liam Lawlor would disagree. People don't sing in this country, or at least they never get the chance to.

DeVore

Why would you blow the whistle on anyone in this country?? Noel has and look what's happened to him as a result! Who would you rather be... The guy on 160k doing "financial consulting" or the guy fighting for his job who used to go help people 'not starve'.

It just all so ... wrong

DeV.

Mahatma coat

bundle the whole thing off over to wikileaks and See if they can get the ball rolling, they have a bit of Media clout.

It is sickening the levels to which Irish Cronyism closes ranks to protect its own, Thing is tho you know what will happen if anyone demands an investigation

$$$$$$$ TRIBUNAL $$$$$$$$

I can her the Fatcat Lawyers lickn their lips from here.

Have no doubt that your friend has 'Ruined his Career' in Ireland, theres no place for Moraly upstanding People with decency and backbone in an organisation like that.

demonspawn

There's a lot to be said for kangaroo courts. These fellas don't deserve a fair trial. Get em in, get em convicted, get em into prison for a few decades.

gmoyne

The Red Cross in my experience is a wonderful organisation but the Irish Red Cross does not meet the standards which is expected of a Humanitarian Organisation it is managed on a daily basis by an executive committee and a Central Council who are about as effective and useful to the general running of the orgainisation as a bull with no ( ), I personally do not know Noel Wardick, but I do know very well what he is probably going through. the Red Cross is not rotten nor is most of it's members but it has at the helm for the last two possibly three decades a right bunch who will do anything and I mean anything to remain in power.

I have personally experienced as a life member how the system works, they will threaten you, demoralise you and if all else fails totally ignore you and then just do what they have always done. I have sat on National Committees and have have seen both members and staff humiliated and sacked and bullied and it's just terrible to see this happening in what is supposed to be a humanitarian organisation. But the tide is turning and these guys are up to their necks in doo doo. The recent events re: funds for Appeals is nothing new. I and others brought to the attention of the Executive Committee a decade ago the question why were funds being retained for years in accounts and not being used other than to gather interest.

Why is this impartial organisation which is required under International statutes and laws looking at a political party under the rule of the Minister of Defence to sort out the problems, the Red Cross is supposed to be Neutral and Impartial... Not this Society.

Good on ye Noel keep the chin up as your ass will be well kicked by the time the Red Cross Executive Committee has finished with you.

gmoyne

Hoarding could be described as a waste of time, but for me it appears it has now benifits. Last evening I was wondering when did my confidence or lack of confidence in the Irish Red Cross ability to manage funds donated by the Irish public begin. I joined the Red Cross in 1974 and it took a few years for me to figure out that this was no ordinary organisation it had a hierarchy or should I say Monarchy. If anyone remembers Mary B you will remember well what I mean. It was a cae of speak when spoken and no one and I mean no one got passed the door of Merrion Square not unless you were part of the circle. They had a trap door approach to the public back then, they would open the small hatch at the front door and you looked in at nothing and that was my experience of the Red Cross.

Anyhow, back to hoarding I glanced through some letters and found correspondence to the National Secretary from myself in 1991 regarding donations for the appeal for the gulf war victims. I raised a sunstantial amount of money at the time and obviously by trust was at it's peak so I had the cheques made out directly to the League of Red Cross as it appears that I believed at the time that the Irish Red Cross were not as diligant as one could have expected.

Following this was the Anti Mine campaign yet again the Irish Red Cross were not at the forefront in lobbying the Governement to have mines banned Internationally, the truth is they didn't actually wish to get involved at all.

Even when Lady Diana Spencer threw her gauntlet into the ring the Irish Red Cross still could not bring themselves to do anything as this once again would show that their role as a body which insurered grovernance of International Humanitarian Law was to say the least extrememly wanting.

So were are now back to today and the membership like blue tac, they have their uses will just stick to whatever it is they do and as for getting involved in doing the right thing and bring those responsible to a court of their piers, well as me Granny would say don't sit on your hands waiting it might be a long wait.

gmoyne

Many Executive members will remember the incident with the Beef, no I'm not talking about the American Add on Tv although its the same catch phrase " Where's the Beef". I often wondered where exactly did it go ? All that wonderful beef given, donated or was it bought?

I of course know exactly the answers, but it's not for me to acount for anything. The Executive Committee members who made the decisions need to be held accountable.

Then there is the question of the school in Armenia what happened to all those plans a vast amount of money was spent on architects, to plan this project was this another hole in the ground to throw donations into..? Was this another wee dream was it sanctioned by the Federation before the Irish Red Cross lost the run of themselves.

So many questions no answers !

The good stuff has yet to come !

Scofflaw

New Chairman for the IRC

The Government has today announced that David J O'Callaghan has been appointed as the new Chairman of the Irish Red Cross. The appointment follows the recommendation by the Minister for Defence, Tony Killeen TD.

O'Callaghan was formerly a Secretary General of the Dept of Defence from 1995 to 2004. He's currently Chairman of the Integrated Ticketing Project Board and also Chairman of the National Directorate for Fire and Emergency Management.

Minister Killeen has welcomed O'Callaghan's appointment, pointing to his immediate tasking of overseeing the reform process at the IRC.

Interesting timing.

cordially,
Scofflaw

gmoyne

It would appear that the new chairman of the Irish Red Cross was Secretary General of the Dept of Defence during the period 1995 to 2004 this indeed is most interesting as he will be able to delve into the reasons why the Dept of Defence took no action re the accusations made by myself and others during this period to the Central Council and the Executive Committee re the dismissal of members of staff and the then subsequent settlement by the Society to those individuals. The Dept of Defence has a representative on the borard of the Red Cross who should obviously report back to the Secretary General who would inturn report I would hope to the Minister.

So he can now perhaps shed some light to us members why his Department decided not to push for the so called full strategic review of the Society in 1999 which promised to answer some of the previous difficulties within the Society of the retention of funds meant for Appeals.

I look forward as a member to meet the new chairman and finally find out why an Organisation such as the Red Cross which is supposed to be Neutral remains under the control of the Dept. of Defence.

Good to have someone now in the camp who can get to grips with the systemic failures by the Society for three decades and the ability to address the irrelgularities which are current. We now also have a man who would have been given all the data on the Society during his tenure as Secretary of the Department of defence 1995 - 2004 and have access to all the historical info so that the real story can perhpas be unfolded for the best of the organisation!

God only knows why they let this go on for so long ! Best of luck to Mr Wardick who through his courage brought this matter to the fore he must be commended by the Society and the Red Cross Internationally and should at least be given a life membership for putting truth before self interest.

gmoyne

In my last quote I mentionsed the tenure of the new Chairman and forgot to mention that when the staff went out on the street in 1999 it's this gentleman who would at the time be keeping the top bod the Minister informed with the good old answers to the press. Of course the questions in the Dail at the time would also have come across his desk and of course statements prepared.

The Red Cross is like a bucket with a hole at the moment the staff are leaving wholesale and not a word from the man in charge the stand in stand up Secretary General. The bunkers are being prepared and the hatches are all secured and the Irish public can be assured it's business as normal your money is safe with us for another decade that is until the next hero who decides to share the experience of working in 16 Merrion Square !

DeVore

I just care about what happens to Noel at this point, he blew the whistle, clearly someone was stung badly enough to act now after 6 months!

Timing is very interesting of course the people at fault will continue with cushy quangoes while Noel goes job hunting. So freaking wrong....


DeV.

gmoyne

The great thing about this forum is that unlike 10 years ago when I was getting it up the nose and other parts from the Red Cross there was no forum to write in, there was no support from my fellow Red Cross members, there was no method of telling everyone what was happening. So if Noel Wardick is shafted then it us that are shamed in that we let it happen without doing some serious screaming.

I have so much that I would like to write about so many documents that provide a clear crisp history of what was going on two decades ago, there are so many ex employees and ex members who are aching and biting at the bit to tap nails in to the hands that caused a Humanitarian Society to become in human. But all that will all come in good time.

Of course the current members are not really interested in a history lesson as that was in the past and we they are not really interested in the past as this would mean taking action against our big powerful members, they will say as they have said in the past we must look into the future and forget the past. Well, that isn't really good enough as far as I'm concerned.

The Red Cross members don't actually know much about the organisation as the Scoiety isn't really into insuring that everyone is infomed. If you are lucky enough even to be appointed to the Central Council the Governing body they make sure you will not know much even then, as there is no effort to insure you know what the obligations are upon a National Society or what are the legal oblications etc. etc. no manuals, no training, no effort.

Being informed is a dangerous position to be in as I soon found out. Having become the first person to become and Instructor for the Red Cross in Humanitarian Law, needless to say this training was given by the British Red Cross and paid for by myself. I was not once asked or given the opportunity to use this training in the Irish Red Cross. Too risky for the big powerful members !

They were not happy about this at top level and tried to kick my ass out citing that they were concerned that I was a member of another National Society and this was not on. The Irish Red Cross didn't like anyone who could or would question them on any subject or front so they just stopped talking simple as that.

So lets see in the coming weeks how they handle Noel Wardick or will they do the same as they did to Louis White a former employee invent rules apply them retrospectively and pay up, hell it's not their money it's yours !

gmoyne

Sorry for the typos in my last post... Fingers are not what they used to be these days !

DeVore

Seems like its now possibly 1 Million euros in various accounts that have not been spent as intended over the years.

http://governancereformatirishredcross.blogspot.com/2010/09/1-million-in-donations-to-irish-red.html


This is just scandalous and they are being allowed to "appoint an independent investigator". How are they independent if they get to choose who, and they pay their fee too.

This whole thing needs to be taken apart piece by piece and examined. Something is very rotten in the state of Denmark.

DeV.

gmoyne

DeVore wrote: »

Seems like its now possibly 1 Million euros in various accounts that have not been spent as intended over the years.

http://governancereformatirishredcross.blogspot.com/2010/09/1-million-in-donations-to-irish-red.html


The Red Cross PR person said that the above is " This is untrue and without foundation." The Red Cross spokesman was obviously told deny, deny, deny ! Let them prove it, then comes the interesting part, we can , Oh dear !

What will the PR person do, oh yes lets twist it and blame the branches that should work. Sorry ! once again the paper work proves it was the executive management. oh dear what can the PR person come up with now ! Lets suggest it was a very long time ago ! No that won't work either.

What the hell who cares the PR person is getting a fistfull of money so what odds if it's true or not ! Pity this peson was not in the knitting business they would make a fortune spinning yarns !

So the Executive comes up with a real plan ! appoint someone to look into it " A firm of accountants" and to make it interesting let no one know who it is and that way all the nuisance public will forget this whole thing in a few weeks and by that time they can go back to what they do best.

Sorry lads this is one member who did not go away 20 years it has taken me to get to this point and I have been totally vindicated in that I accused the Irish Red Cross of failure to manage donations meant for those that needed it and 20 years later they are still doing the same thing!

Patience is a virtue !

Oscail

See Sunday Times article written on October 3rd on page 10. It says Irish Red Cross is going to sue Google in America for the names and identities of every single person who posted a comment on Noel Wardick's blog which has been very critical of the shenanigans that goes on within that organisation. First they were suing Google for Noel Wardick's identity (their International Director) but he revealed his identity himself so now they are still wasting Irish people's donations trying to sue Google to identify the names of all the people who have posted 170 comments on Noel's blog so far. Who the hell are these guys making these decisions? Is tax payers money going to this organisation? Is the Minister going to allow this continue? The full Sunday Times article is available on Noel's blog at

http://governancereformatirishredcross.blogspot.com

DeVore

Not only that but Google is a donator to both the Irish Red Cross and the International Red Cross.

I'm so f*cking proud of Noel but I'm not surprised. Noel and I came up together and you wont meet a more conscientious, honest, hard working guy. I'm proud to call him a friend.

Here's the one last guy in the country willing to put his ethics and morals ahead of his own self-interest and his job and he's going to get hung out to dry and lose a job he has worked hard at for years and years both in the field and at home.

The reason we are in a fecking state as a country is because we need about 10,000 MORE Noel Wardicks. People will the balls to say "this is going to hurt me, but I cant stand by and watch this happen, I have to blow the whistle". Hence my sig, which I wish people would copy in fact...


DeV.

LostinBlanch

Well that didn't take long did it?

The IRC, which has been dogged in recent months by high turnover of senior staff, allegations of improper governance, financial mismanagement and operating in a "toxic culture", has abandoned its independent inquiry into how €162,000 in donations languished in a Tipperary bank account controlled by a former acting chairman for three years.

This weekend, a spokesman for the IRC confirmed the axing of the independent inquiry, on costs grounds.

Well they have to pay for suing Google some way or other don't they? :rolleyes:

What a spineless abdication of responsibility from defence minister Tony Killeen. He'd give Pontius Pilate a good run for his money.

His spokeswoman said:

The Red Cross is an independent charitable body. The minister has no role in the day-to-day activities or internal decisions of the society or its executive council.

Well that's OK then.

Jimmy Deenihan is the only politician I can see who's calling for a full top to bottom independent investigation of the IRC. Why is nobody else?

DeVore

Also, if that was true why are they going to advertise the Secretary General on publicjobs.ie!!


The entire thing is just getting more and more "oirish" by the minute!!


Its a total farce... a complete and utter fiasco! They have enough money to waste on stupid court cases against their benefactors and perhaps they could use some of the 162,000 that was just "resting" in a Tipp bank account.... just a thought.


DeV.

Oscail

The Minister's claim he cant get involved is false. Under the Defence Act 1939 which set up the Irish Red Cross the Minister is allowed intervene in the day to day administrative and financial affairs of the organisation if the Minister deems it necessary. The Minister and his officials know this full well. The Minister appoints 15 members of the 42 Irish Red Cross Central Council. The Minister appoints the Irish Red Cross Chairman. A senior official from the Minister's department of Defence has a permanent seat on the Executive Committee of the Irish Red Cross, which effectively runs the organisation. The Minister's representative is therefore always involved in day to day decisions. It seems the Minister wishes to be selective on what he gets involved in and what he doesnt. Protecting the Irish public's and taxpayer's money seems to be an area he is not interested in. This is an abdication of his responsibility. The Minister adopted this same position on Prime Time on 26th August 2010 and was destroyed by the presenter Richard Crowley. It seems the Minister has not learned from this experience.

Barely a month ago the Irish Red Cross announced to the media it was going to conduct an independent investigation into the undeclared Tipperary bank account which was found to have €162,000 sitting in it for over three years instead of going to the victims of the 2004 Asian tsunami where is was intended for. Red Cross insiders who know the carry on of the place felt is was probably only a ruse to get the media off their backs especially as they refused to name the accountancy firm involved. Thank god for an independent, free, curious and skeptical media as they smelled a rat and this week the Irish Red Cross was forced to admit they had no intention of conducting an independent investigation. Now the matter will be investigated internally....ah yes turkeys voting for Christmas and all that! These people have shown their unlimited disdain and disregard for propriety. Where is the new Chairman in all this? Did he santion this disasterous decision? If so we can give up all hope of reform and change. Those responsible for the Tipperary bank account must be laughing their backsides off having managed to quash the independent investigation. A big sigh of relief all round. Another bad day for integrity.

Yitzhak Rabin

This kind of thing is so utterly demoralising. How on earth can they hope to have any shred of credibility left if won't allow an independent inquiry.

Hopefully this should be the cue for investigative journalists to smell a rat a put the management through the wringer. Nothing ever changes unless there is a full inquiry and people who mismanaged funds and acted inappropriately are forced to be accountable for their decisions.

Their case against google is laughable. If the toxic attitude to pursue and punish those that speak out against poor governance, then the IRC is doomed to continue as a corrupt and unethical organisation.

Has the Int'l Red Cross said anything about it?

DeVore

I mailed them but no reply.

TBH I'm holding off on campaigning about this because of Noels situation but it looks like they are going to dismiss him after the "disciplinary hearing".

DeV.

Trojan

Disgraceful. It's really a sad state of affairs when you have to wonder about whether your charitable donations are being used correctly, particularly to well established organisations like that. I wonder what the IFRC make of it, and what their policies are in relation to national societies who are doing things like this.

gmoyne

I wouldn't worry about your donations they are being well taken care of. Of course this is not the place to list off the amount of your donations have gone to paying compensation by the way of Industrial settlements to ex employees and there have been many.

Then there is the amount of money paid to PR people to come up with sad stories how they really didn't know about all them accounts over the years and all the buildings that were given to the Red Cross then there is all the legacy's. So much to remember and it's only Monday!

Then of course you will appreciate that to insure that the good name of the Red Cross does not fall into disrepute the case against Google had to be taken. They must be punished as we Irish cannot allow our dirty washing to be discussed in public.

The Irish Red Cross is the elephant in the room and it's got nothing to do with the economy or the downturn its just a simple case of power and the need to maintain it at all cost to you the donor!