By Michael O’Farrell – Investigations Editor
and Niamh Griffin – Health Correspondent
A CHARITY for the intellectually disabled that receives hundreds of millions of euro from the taxpayer sent top executives to Orlando for a conference – despite savage cuts to services in Ireland.
The St John of God order spent more than €23,000 on sending six members of staff to the 2016 Catholic Health Assembly at the luxury JW Marriott Grande Lakes hotel earlier this month, with four staff staying on in Florida at their own expense after the conference ended.
News of the trip has infuriated parents of those who use the charity’s services as well as on-the-ground staff who have been hit by major cutbacks. The charity is largely funded by the taxpayer.
The trip came only two weeks before the charity announced this Thursday that it is withdrawing services at St Augustine’s centre for teenagers with intellectual disabilities in south Dublin, due to a ‘significant reduction in funding’. Wicklow woman Susan Fox’s daughter Isabelle, 12, who has Down Syndrome, has attended St Augustine’s school, taking classes in sport, music, gardening and house management. Ms Fox said they received no warning of the cutbacks.
She said: ‘It is just so frustrating to hear about that trip. It’s exhausting. You don’t need to send all your top managers, you don’t need to stay in these hotels. What they need to learn is how to deal with people.’
In an interview with the Irish Mail on Sunday, Brother Donatus Forkan, the head of the St John of God order in Ireland, acknowledged that while some people might look unfavour ably on the cost of the trip, he believed it was justified.
He said: ‘The reality is we have to prioritise the money that we have. Perception, I suppose people see what they see, but the truth is different.’
A number of St John of God cen tres have been sharply criticised by health watchdog HIQA in recent years for unsafe practices.
St John of God receives €125m of its €150m annual income from the taxpayer via the HSE. It also receives grants from a number of Govern ment departments and agencies.
The group that travelled to Orlando included group CEO John Pepper, head of finance Annamarie McGill; head of human resources Sharon Balmaine and regional director Phil Gray.
Brother Donatus and St John of God chaplain Brother Hugh Gillan, also attended the conference.
Another executive, CEO of com munity services Clare Dempsey, was due to travel but did not for personal reasons, it is understood. It is believed her place on the trip was filled by a colleague.
The full cost of the trip came to €23,384, according to the voluntary body. This covered flights, hotel, food and expenses.
Speaking to the MoS, Brother Donatus said the religious and lay staff took separate flights to and from the conference that ran from June 5 to 7. Both brothers checked out after the assembly was finished, leaving at 7am on Wednesday.
However, the managers, includÂing John Pepper, stayed on for sevÂeral days at their own expense after checking out of the luxury resort.
Brother Donatus said: ‘Our senior leadership team have been with St John of God for many years.
‘It is important they have the foundation of what it is about, what it means to have responsibility for the work of the Church in the world we live in today.’
He insisted the money used for this trip was not from the public purse, saying it came from the order’s own funding.
The JW Marriott Grande Lakes hotel sits on a 500-Âacre resort with a Greg Norman signature golf course and a Ritz-ÂCarlton spa.
Conference organisers advised attendees of nearby attractions including Walt Disney World, SeaWorld, the Kennedy Space Centre and Universal Orlando.
According to the conference brochure: ‘The resort also features a state-of-thÂart fitness centre (complimentary to JW Marriott guests), outdoor swimming pool, lazy river, lighted tennis courts, jogging trail and bike paths, guided eco-Âtours, kayaking and canoeing, fly fishing, outdoor play areas for kids… and more!’
Among the St John of God’s centres embroiled in recent controÂversy was the one in Drumcar, Co. Louth, which was closed by HIQA in April, following 30 breaches of care.
Former senator Mary Moran had used the respite services at the Drumcar centre for her son and said recent cutbacks had really begun to bite.
She said: ‘Clients at the day services here were told they would have to start paying for their lunches and management said this was due to lack of money.
‘One staff member told me she brings shampoo and shower-Âgel herself for respite clients as it’s not provided.
‘To hear that senior managers have spent that much money on a trip abroad, I find that very dis heartening.’ Ms Moran said clients at these services are vulnerable and their families are under a lot of pressure. She said: ‘I could not fault the staff on the ground there, the fault lies higher up.
‘I am very disappointed to hear about this trip.
‘That senior staff – after all the cutbacks – would spend that much money is very disappointing. I would be very shocked. It is awful when you know how dedicated the staff are. That would really annoy me and upset me.’ Nursing staff at two centres run by St John of God have also threat ened industrial action because of cuts to services and fears about clients’ safety.
Nurses balloted at the Beaufort centre in Co. Kerry for strike action in April, which was only averted after talks at the Workplace Rela tions Commission this month.
The INMO’s Michael Dineen said: ‘Our members in Beaufort have had to endure significant changes to their work practices.
‘I’m sure they would be appalled at a time when they’ve had their lives turned upside-Âdown – supposÂedly for a purpose of achieving savings – to discover that senior managers in the organisation are living it up in Florida.
‘It’s very difficult to reconcile the two.’ Mr Dineen added: ‘I’m of the view that there is merit in an independÂent body reviewing the manage ment structures within St John of God and the whole modus operandi of that organisation.’ All of these centres are run by a company now called StJohn of God Community Services Ltd. It was renamed as part of a move away from being a religious-run entity.
Several of these managers have previous close links to controversial centres, with John Pepper having been group CEO during this time.
Sharon Balmain was interim CEO in 2014 when HIQA found some facilities in Co. Louth, in breach of the 1997 Health Act.
Both Clare Dempsey and Phil Gray were head of services at St Raphael’s in Co. Kildare – a centre HIQA closed earlier this year when inspectors expressed significant concerns about residents’ safety and quality of life.
Annamarie McGill has been head of finance throughout and, until 2013, was group secretary for all John of God companies.
It is not known what salaries those on the trip to Florida receive but a 2013 HSE audit found the group was one of five Section 38 charities not compliant with public pay standards and rules.
As a result, the HSE threatened to reduce funding until the group became compliant later that year.
In a statement, St John of God Ministries said the conference in Orlando provided training for people working in the area of governance.
‘This is particularly relevant to the St John of God Order, where there is transfer of governance from the brothers to our lay leadership,’ a spokesman said.
‘The provincial [Brother Donatus] wants to ensure that leadership succession, which is critical into the future, is informed by best practice in this area from the experience of Catholic Organisations in the US.
‘It provided learning opportunities to engage with other Catholic healthcare organisations, who have developed best practice in the formation of lay leadership.
‘The provincial considers this important in the context of the leadership succession strategy and services survival within the context of Catholic social teaching.’
POSTSCRIPT
A day after the Irish Mail on Sunday broke this story the St John of God group announced it would not withdraw services at St Augustine’s school in Blackrock Co Dublin.
See links below for some follow-up coverage.
http://www.rte.ie/news/2016/0620/796977-st-john-of-god/
http://talkofthetown.ie/st-john-of-gods-under-fire-for-e23000-trip-to-florida/
Two weeks after we published this story we revealed that 14 managers at the St John of God group shared E2m in secret top payments.
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