This has been a strange week. On the back of allegations levelled at the board of the Central Remedial Clinic, the spotlight shifted toward Rehab and its charitable lotteries. How do I feel? As an activist for far too many years, I have mixed feelings. Do I think the Rehab lotteries will damage charitable contributions in general? To be honest, my answer is no. The reasons for this will become clear as you read on.
The CRC debacle could be classed as a ‘typical’ Irish corporate ‘crisis’, with claims of personal gain among senior staff. It was not about influencing policy and it was not about what could be classed as corporate influence. The service users were caught in the fallout. At a time of massive cutbacks, the pension issue left a really bad taste in the mouth.
The controversy currently engulfing Rehab should and must be seen through a different lens. Whether I like it or not, I have to put it on record that Rehab, in all its guises, must be seen as one of Ireland’s most successful companies. They could well be seen as one of Ireland’s very few multi-nationals. They have every right to run lotteries to fund their services. As a private company, that is their right. To be honest, I really don’t care about Rehab lotteries. From a funding point of view it looks like a side-show.
What bothers me is the public funding Rehab attracts and how this money fuels the business model. A report this week suggested the HSE transferred €126 million for services given. In the past this figure would have been considerably higher as monies from the European Social Fund fuelled many Rehab training programmes in the 90s. Of course they were well within their rights to apply and use these funds. They, like every EU funded project, would have gone through rigorous evaluation processes. That goes without question.
But the activist in me has loads of questions.
The fact that one of Rehab’s most senior officers was given so many non-executive positions on state boards raises questions over conflicts of interests even where none may even exist. We just don’t know.
With so much state funding going towards the group, then questions over salaries are justified. Do state funds go to any senior staff?
This could have been a far more angrier column but it is the time of cool heads. Questions need to be asked. The narrow focus of these investigations so far has shed a light on a segment of Irish society which has gone unnoticed for many years. Disabled activists for decades have raised issues about Chinese walls and politicians ears being whispered in. Maybe, just maybe, their questions will be listened to.
