THE WIDOW OF the late founder of a suicide prevention charity has been fined €1,500 in court after pleading guilty to keep proper books of account over an eight year period. 

Today, the Corporate Enforcement Authority (CEA) of Ireland said that the collapse of the Console charity and its resulting liquidation impacted significantly on its service users, and also caused serious “reputational damage” to the charities sector in Ireland. 

Patricia Kelly, who acted as both the director and company director of Console Suicide Bereavement Counselling Limited pleaded guilty to the offence which spanned from December 2006 to May 2015. 

The CEA said that charity directors that disregard their duties and obligations under company law expose themselves to serious risk, including “personal criminal liability”. 

It added that the conviction of Ms Kelly is the culmination of a lengthy investigation which saw tens of thousands of documents analysed, and in excess of 100 witness statements taken. 

Judge Martin Nolan imposed a fine of  €1,500 on Ms Kelly, and disqualified her from acting as a company director for the next five years. 

Ms Kelly is the widow of Paul Kelly, who founded Console. She resides at Alexandra Manor in Co Kildare. 

The Dublin Circuit Criminal Court heard that Ms Kelly failed to keep records that could show and explain transactions carried out by the company. 

This meant the financial position of the company was unclear, and that it was in contravention of the Companies Act, which requires companies to keep annual accounts which can be audited fully. 

Console was wound down  in 2016 after it emerged through an investigation from RTÉ that its founders spent donated money on personal expenses.

An audit found that half a million euro was spent on foreign trips, designer clothes, eating out and other expenses between 2012 and 2014 – while another half a million was spent on salaries and cars for CEO Paul Kelly and his wife Patricia.

At the time of the revelations, Sinn Féin’s Mary Lou McDonald said that the HSE had serious questions to answer about its role as it was providing direct funding to the charity.

Appearing before the PAC in July 2017, the HSE denied that there were any wrongdoings or errors on their part in monitoring the funding of Console.