Tuesday, 10th December 2024
The Irish Council for Social Housing (ICSH) welcomes the publication today of the Approved Housing Bodies Regulatory Authority (AHBRA) report of the independent inspectors into the Peter McVerry Trust. The Report is the culmination of an investigation conducted from 1 October 2023 to 30 May 2024, and documents issues arising between 1 January 2022 (when AHBRA’s relevant regulatory functions came into effect) and 31 August 2023, identifying failings in governance, financial management and conflict of interest handling, which represent serious breaches of AHBRA’s regulatory standards for approved housing bodies.
Speaking today, Donal McManus, Chief Executive of the ICSH said: “The failings of the Peter McVerry Trust represent a breach of public trust in the charitable and not-for-profit sector. As a sector in receipt of substantial exchequer funding for the provision of secure and affordable public housing, this is something the ICSH and our member AHBs take very seriously. It is important to state that the report findings are not in any way reflective of the AHB sector as a whole. We support the regulatory responsibilities placed on our members. The effectiveness of the notifiable events process in the case of the Peter McVerry Trust also demonstrates that this responsibility is being taken very seriously. The AHB sector plays an important role in social housing provision and management in Ireland and public confidence in our sector’s governance and financial management is paramount to our effectiveness and success.”
The AHBRA report also notes that the Trust, which has acknowledged the seriousness of the findings, will now undergo an intensive oversight and monitoring programme. This involves a comprehensive programme of corrective actions by the Trust with oversight by an independent expert reporting to AHBRA on the progress of these reforms over a six–nine month period. AHBRA does not propose to use its enforcement powers at this time.
ENDS//
Note to Editor
The Irish Council for Social Housing is the national federation for non-profit housing associations (also known as approved housing bodies or AHBs) representing more than 270 member organisations working across Ireland.
The Housing (Regulation of Approved Housing Bodies) Act 2019 provides for the regulation of AHBs to safeguard public investment in the delivery of social housing by AHBs. The Approved Housing Bodies Regulatory Authority (AHBRA) regulatory standards for AHBs, informed by the 2019 Act, address such areas as governance, financial management, property/asset management and tenancy management. These robust standards are in addition to those placed on AHBs by other key regulators of the sector such as the Charities Regulator.
In addition, our AHB member organisations are governed by the statutes of their constitution, memorandum, and articles of association under which they are obliged to provide or manage housing for vulnerable or disadvantaged households. This is a requirement in order the get approval as an AHB and for charitable status.
AHBRA recently published its second annual analysis report of the AHB sector, which documents a diverse sector that is responding well to the reporting requirements of the regulator, with increased levels of engagement with AHBs in the ‘notifiable events’ process. Section 55 of the 2019 Act obliges an AHB to give written notice to AHBRA of any matter (a notifiable event) that might ‘threaten or might reasonably be expected to threaten the stability, efficiency, operations and general viability of the AHB’. The investigation into the Trust commenced following receipt of a Notifiable Event from the AHB in July 2023, which highlighted several financial and governance issues.
