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THE IRISH RED Cross has had to let go of staff and restructure the charity after a drop in donations contributed to financial pressure.
It has also recently lost a board member and has pulled out from one of its long-term projects in Niger.
Speaking to TheJournal.ie this week, the Irish Red Cross’s General Secretary Liam O’Dwyer outlined the serious steps the charity – which receives government funding – has been taking in order to deal with the financial pressure.
One of the key issues is funding. By the mid-year point in 2017, it had taken in €1.1m but over the same period this year it has taken in €800k.
That’s a 27% drop in public donations.
The restructuring has led to the loss of three core support staff in head office so far this year, while four vacant positions are not being filled.
Two of these positions became vacant earlier in the year and two became vacant in the last two weeks. Within the organisation, five staff have been redeployed.
The International department has also been subsumed into the department of the Secretary General, and Irish Red Cross international work will continue with the retention of an experienced international staff member.
In addition, a board member stepped down in 2018. O’Dwyer would not name them, but said that a new board would have been coming into place later this year anyway.
Challenges
“We have had some challenges, and I suppose the first one is matching the income and the expenditure and that’s what we’re doing, and that’s why we’ve had a look at the resources we have here and the financial resources. We have to match the two together and that’s why the restructuring itself took place,” O’Dwyer told TheJournal.ie this week.
He said that the financial pressure that the charity is under is due in part to rising costs due to regulation and governance – which he welcomed – alongside the big drop in fundraising donations.
He said that though the charity welcomes regulation, it is costly to implement, alongside data protection, GDPR, meeting safeguarding standards, the governance code, and accounting standards. The charity meets all these standards, he said. He said that the national first aid operation is also costly.
“We’ve got the cost side and then on the other side of it, it has been more difficult to raise funds,” said O’Dwyer. “We aren’t alone in that. I think the other [Irish charity] organisations, particularly in development, have had difficulties in raising funds too.”
The drop in funding this year is mainly in the international sphere.
O’Dwyer said that the Irish Charities Engagement Monitor said in a recent survey that trust in charities has dropped by six percentage points this year. It said that overseas aid and development is the sector with the second lowest level of respondents saying they trust the sector ‘a great deal’. This comes following scandals involving charities like Oxfam.
O’Dwyer said that when there is a major emergency “the Irish public donate extremely, extremely well and they respond very well”, but donations would have been affected by the fact there hasn’t been a major international emergency to donate to since 2015.
Not easy decisions
All of this has forced the Irish Red Cross to make some serious changes. “I think what we’re doing is we’re focusing on setting priorities and focusing on the priorities of the organisation,” said O’Dwyer.
“And we have to just produce a leaner organisation.” He said there is a responsibility on the Irish Red Cross “to match income and expenditure which is what we are doing”.
“None of these are easy decisions,” said O’Dwyer. “We spent some time at the start of the year with our members looking at strategy, where we are going.”
He said there are significant needs they want to meet, in terms of training, service provision, migration, working with refugees, the work the charity does in prisons, and non-violence campaigns.
The international section of the Irish Red Cross has now been subsumed into the section that reports directly to the Secretary General. It is understood that a senior member of staff in that section has been let go, but O’Dwyer said an experienced person from this section has been retained.
Asked about the impact of this on the charity, O’Dwyer said that international work is still a priority for the Irish Red Cross. It has projects in Indonesia, Nepal and India for example.
However Irish Red Cross cancelled a planned trip to Nepal this year, which O’Dwyer said will be rescheduled.
It also recently ended a 10-year project it had been running in Niger. O’Dwyer said this decision came after the Irish Red Cross was told that its Irish Aid funding for this project wouldn’t be continued.
“These decisions are always difficult decisions but also we were there for 10 years,” said O’Dwyer, noting that the Belgian and Niger Red Cross are taking over full running of the project.
O’Dwyer said that he expects the Irish Red Cross to be in a “better place” by October of this year, thanks to its restructuring.
Previous issues
This is not the first time that the Irish Red Cross has experienced issues.
In 1999, staff called for an independent inquiry into the management of the society. The Irish Times reported at the time that the staff spoke of an “unprofessional atmosphere”. The year previously, its then-Secretary General Martin Good resigned following internal disagreements.
In 2011, the Oireachtas Public Accounts Committee looked at the issue of financial control at the Irish Red Cross. The Irish Red Cross said at the time that no new findings had come to light, and that it had implemented the recommendations that had been made.
A report published by the PAC in 2012 had a number of recommendations such as undertaking regular audits of all its branches; and ensuring that a structured feedback process is in place to verify the implementation of the change programme being pursued by the charity at the time.
In 2015, three senior managers resigned from the Irish Red Cross. At the time, Dóchas – the umbrella group for aid agencies – expressed its concern to the Irish Times about it. There were concerns at the time over finances and management.
O’Dwyer took up the role of Secretary General in 2015 as the charity focused on moving on from those issues. How have things been going at the Irish Red Cross since then?
“Well we recovered, we have recovered very well,” he said. “We put a lot of important governance matters into perspective, we comply with the governance code, the fundraising standards, we put a lot of effort into making sure the governance of the organisation was in a very good place.”
He said that the charity wanted to give confidence to funders, the government, the public and its own members and volunteers.
In a statement on its restructuring plan, the Irish Red Cross said:
The restructuring of this very diverse organisation is being carried out in conjunction with the development of a new Irish Red Cross three-year strategy, the intention being to create a more cost-effective organisation to support its members.
The Irish Red Cross’s annual report will be published in late autumn. The annual report is based on a consolidated audit of the 94 branches of the Irish Red Cross and the 28 area committees as well as the head office operation.
In 2017, over 250,000 volunteer hours were provided by the Irish Red Cross members supporting local community events. It also carried out significant work to provide emergency support during storms Ophelia, Brian and Eleanor.
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Pity they can’t stay and fight like that in their own country… Might make a difference.
And this the Winter ? Wait till summer !!
So you and your family would be perfectly happy to stay and fight a barbaric cult like isis?. Or would you try and take those you love to a better place that says they are fighting these barbarians?. Not everyone is capable of killing for their beliefs, which it seems you are advocating
Haven’t you heard? France is a war zone.
Apparently.
Not meaning to sound insensitive, totally understand people fleeing a war zone looking for a safe place to survive…BUT…trying to get to England…WTF…stay in France. They should be looked after at the boarders of Europe rather than FREE FOR ALL to transit where ever they want. Calais Camp should be abandoned and those there brought to a European transit location nearer to Syria so that they can go home.
Not all from Isis areas there is some Africans here too and other economic migrants. France will deport those.
@dogmas1507……..Have they tried Saudi Arabia,Qatar,UAE.,Oman, Bahrain or Kuwait? These countries are richer than we are and SA already has fully serviced apts. in Tent City made up for 3,000,000 persons. And they’ll feel at home with the Islamic Ideology. Why they insisting on gate-crashing into Europe? Why haven’t these Sharia states opened up to their own Muslim fanatics.?
Is it because that they understand exactly that this is a great Muslim Hijrah/Religious Migration that they have helped orchestrate with the view of conquering Europe for Mohammedanism?
I think it is.
Throw them out toute-de-suite before it’s too late!
Refugees? Why not call them what they are? They are migrants who have thrown Frances offer of food, warm shelter and sanitation back in their face. Instead they want to force their way into the UK by imtimidating truck drivers and putting truckers and transport companies livelihoods in danger by stowawaying on trucks. Then the likes of Jude Law and the rest of the celebrity muppets whine on about their “plight” while getting a good photo op. I wonder would those same idiots like to drive through Calais at night and get rocks thrown at them? I had to laugh though at Jude Law’s security team getting mugged while they were there. At least it answers the question of where these illigal migrants are getting their iPhones!
Dangerously close to Iphone Joan’s comment there Brian but perhaps you’re only mentioning that because you have an interest in photography yourself.
What??
The daily mail website is over there
Christ almighty, the summer is going to make the 12th in the North look like a picnic. There will be widespread rioting in camps across the continent from Calais to Corfu. And god knows what tricks the new migrants in Germany will get up to this summer.
This is getting out of hand and still Merkel wags the finger at the likes of Greece and Austria who are literally trying to hold back the hordes.
Prepare for migrant quotas post brexit.
Thank you Merkel for deciding that all Europeans should be tested.
The consequences of your ‘test’ will be profound, and not in a good way.
They are refusing to be finger printed so the next thing for them is deportation .
Finger printing is the difference of potential deportation or relocation, but to where!
We are only ‘keyboards in the air’ as we do not know what they have gone through nor going through. All we know is that it is bloody cold outside and no one should be subjected to this, I wouldn’t let me dogs sleep outside in this weather yet alone dismantle their dog pound.
We (as a collective) agreed for a EC, to safeguard us and help others, and at the first major hurdle it has failed, therefore collaborative directive action needs to be taken to remove them and put them closer to the boarders of Europe in a safe manner. Realistically, I am surprised at the UK government not stepping up to the mark and relocating them themselves since as they have the ability. As why is Russia involved?
Paul, they are refusing to be fingerprinted because they want to get to Britian , why do you think that is ?
Its well past time the army was called in to deal with rioters.
Suppose mamma merkal is going to criticise the UK for not leaving them through.she will single handedly ruin Europe.the face of Europe is going to be a frightening place in 5 years time
Playing right into the hands of Boris Johnson and the rest of the brexit camp..if Britain does exit .where next for the economic migrants in France?..
Coming to a town near you.
Only if we let it happen.
Beware this Islamic invasion. Demographic jihad. Islam has failed in Muslim country’s so people flee and try to install the same failed ideology in the new country’s they land in.
A pitty Liz Clegg didn’t get a good dose of CS gas for her troubles.
I guess that means that movie star Emma Watson’s visit to the Jungle is off…pity as Jude Laws visit wasn’t so pleasant….http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/uk-world-news/star-jude-laws-minders-mugged-7456352#w64KJZ1SPLmMqLPj.97
Why are help refugees uk putting out fires in france?
And who lit the fires in the first place?
It’s all about the Brexit, backroom deal to clear this camp in return for Tory backing Britain staying. This is not going to lower France’s profile with the extremists. Fragmenting EU is probably going to harm Euro more than Sterling in the long run.
Yet more slaughter for the religion of bits and pieces….https://www.rt.com/news/333928-woman-severed-head-metro/
There is no place for religion in a modern society. End of story
Amen
Surprised I am not seeing a Storm Jake article.
Sure it’s fierce mild !
There’s actually an orange wind warning for tonight !
Curry earlier Suzie, better upgrade that to a category 1 wind warning
Storm jake on the way!!!
Might not be a bad idea , Joe !
Shoot them all. Europe does not want these savages.
And we all condem Donald Trump for saying he will build a wall to keep the Mexicans out. He is a complete idiot, but are we not doing the same here
I think there is a fine line between a Mexican and someone who supports the ideology’s of ISIS.
These people are trying to get away from isis. Not supporting them. How can yiu not see the difference
Domas – not all of them are. These people come from countries where homophobia, women’s rights, animal rights etc aren’t even on the agenda. Anti – homosexual opinions run at 90%+ in Pakistan, Afghanistan etc. Why in the jaysus would Europe think it OK to import such anti-european values?
Domas, according to the article many of the jungle camp residents are from Iran – have IS started operating there too?
@dumass1507 I have seen some Isis videos and I have seen videos of violent attempts to break through national borders. Allah ackbar! ALLAH ACKBAR!!! I can’t tell the difference. Those people are not wanted in Europe for damn good reasons.
Build a wall in Ireland to keep the mexicans out?
How far away from ISIS do they need to get Domas? Is France not far enough? UK the only safe place in Europe is it? Plus most come from nations with no ISIS presence.
#moscowgirl
Radical Danish cleric preaches death to infidels sparks criticism
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qQ3abR7NdNI
If these oxygen thieves get a foot hold in Ireland they will have a field day running rings around the Irish justice system.
But scarr these are the people that left these countries to seek a better life. Are the capable of thinking exactly like us.. of course not . We have the benifit of years of different understanding. If we let them experience our existence then ad only then will they fully understand. But that creates issues with jobs I am also aware of that too
How can yiu be a human being and not understand your own enotions. How can yiu see destitute people as different to yiu. How can yiu not see past the retoric of the media. How can that retoric negate your own feelings. Put yourself in their position for just a day. We in Ireland have build a country on fighting oppression
Islamic form of tolerance is one way street, we don’t need or want it here.
It leaves a path of destruction in its wake.
Why can’t they follow orders in countries they visit. In Macedonia they tore up fencing, attacked police. In Greece they attacked people’s homes.. They seem to have an attitude of entitlement which is what disturbs me. What will they be like when they arrive in the countries they are targeting. Will they riot if they don’t get their own way there too. If they were behaving themselves as they moved through Europe then their would be more sympathy for them. Instead they are leaving a trail of destruction in their wake
Will they riot ? Be sure of it , this is an invasion anyone who thinks otherwise is seriously deluded , the gulf between those in power and the average citizen is frightening , keep an eye on Germany that communist Merkel is dangerous she has already interfered with the media and how they report on what is happening on the streets , private properties are been taken to house migrants from their owners , the Poles saved Europe from an Islamic invasion before I think we will have to rely on them again along with the Hungarians , Czechs and Slovaks
Islam is oppression on steroids. And you want us to import that incredibly backward, primitive and violent ideology, and allow it to take root here? No. The vast majority of people do not want that ok. Destitute people? A lot of them look like they just escaped from the Apple shop and Life Style Sports, not a war zone. Thousands of euros to pay traffickers. If they spent all their money on traffickers and iPhones that is their stupid decision and their problem, not ours.
Funny how the left wing trolls that were on every post pre election are absent here. Oh I forgot they are all in favour of this invasion. Not willing to defend the indefensible now though.
You will never see that shower on a thread like this. They’re in total denial.
An idea might be to impose.,create several DMZ in the Arab countries envolved in the migration crisis place camps in these areas and when peace is achieved in the respective country the problem is somewhat solved.Maybe this is a stupid idea,it sounds simple.The west caused the problem so they should solve it.
Why do you say the west caused the problem ?
Joe, I agree imposing a DMZ inside Syria would be the first place to start, I am pretty sure any western General who was given a free reign would of been able to stamp this mess out a long time ago,
however, it’s just not worth sending western troops over to fight there wars for them.
The west did not cause this, that is Arab victim mentality seeping into liberal thinking once again.
These people have been constantly fighting each other since the beginning of recorded history, playing on your western guilt is just another tool used by cowards.
have your say