{"id":649383,"date":"2026-10-09T08:32:10","date_gmt":"2026-10-09T08:32:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/649383\/"},"modified":"2026-10-09T08:32:10","modified_gmt":"2026-10-09T08:32:10","slug":"hse-deducted-e100000-from-autism-charity-after-governance-concerns-raised-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/649383\/","title":{"rendered":"HSE deducted \u20ac100,000 from autism charity after governance concerns raised \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Health Service Executive<\/a> (HSE) deducted \u20ac100,000 from an autism<\/a> charity in 2019 as a \u201cvalue improvement payment\u201d after concerns were raised about its financial governance.<\/p>\n

Autism a Chara, which until this year traded as Autism Initiatives Ireland, provides specialist care and support for adults with autism in the Republic.<\/p>\n

In 2019, concerns were raised by a former Irish charity official about the alleged transfer of \u20ac1,522,778 from the HSE-funded organisation\u2019s cash reserves to its UK<\/a> parent company over a four-year period.<\/p>\n

The HSE announced earlier this year that it was reviewing the governance and funding of the organisation in light of the allegations.<\/p>\n

In a briefing note to the Oireachtas<\/a> Public Accounts Committee<\/a> (PAC), dated September 24th, the HSE said from 2018 it had \u201congoing engagement with Autism Initiatives Ireland regarding financial governance, use of reserves, cross-charges\/management fees and funding for business supports\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn April 2018, Autism Initiatives Ireland formally set out its position to the HSE regarding the use of reserves for central business costs,\u201d the note said.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom early 2019, concerns were raised by the HSE regarding the scale and use of reserves, specifically the apportionment of central\/management charges from the UK parent organisation, and transparency in financial reporting.\u201d<\/p>\n

The HSE said the matters were \u201cdiscussed extensively\u201d at meetings during 2019 and an independent external review was commissioned by Autism a Chara.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt concluded that the board and senior management had acted appropriately, that the central cost recharge arrangements represented value for money and that there was no evidence that any funder, including the HSE, had been adversely affected,\u201d the note said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe review found the shared services model to be cost-effective, equitable and beneficial to operational charities, with the allocation methodology considered fair and reasonable.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNotwithstanding\u201d the assurances, the HSE continued to engage with the organisation regarding the HSE\u2019s \u201cauthority to seek a contribution from reserves\u201d in the context of wider governance.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn 2019, the HSE sought a once-off value improvement contribution of \u20ac100,000, which was subsequently deducted from Autism Initiatives Ireland\u2019s funding allocation,\u201d the note said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn 2020 Autism Initiatives Ireland absorbed service cost pressures within their funding allocation including invoices relating to the changing needs of two individuals.\u201d<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Autism charity under review told HSE it was \u2018transitioning away\u2019 from UK parentOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

An earlier letter to the committee showed the HSE provided \u20ac46.415 million in total to the organisation in the years between 2022 and 2025.<\/p>\n

In internal correspondence within the charity, the official had alleged the \u20ac1.5 million was transferred in three ways, claiming \u20ac973,400 was transferred on one occasion after the charity\u2019s Northern Ireland<\/a> branch issued a \u201crecharge for services rendered\u201d.<\/p>\n

Alongside an alleged \u20ac200,000 charge from the UK parent group on the proceeds from the sale of a property owned by the Irish charity, the official alleged there was a \u201ccurrent annual recharge\u201d from the UK arm for services rendered, further claiming that no services were requested or approved.<\/p>\n

The charity said concerns were raised in 2019 \u201cin relation to the recharge to a UK company\u201d, but that an independent auditor found \u201cno substance\u201d to them and that the processes regarding recharging were \u201crobust and represent value for money\u201d.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Alleged transfer of \u20ac1.5m by autism body to UK parent charity \u2018possibly criminal\u2019Opens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

Autism a Chara confirmed it received a \u201cformal request\u201d in July 2019 to make a \u201cformal cost savings contribution\u201d to the HSE. <\/p>\n

Following this, the organisation \u201csubsequently absorbed service cost pressures within their funding allocation\u201d.<\/p>\n

In a statement earlier this year, the Irish charity said it had transitioned away from its UK parent in March due to \u201cdivergence between the Irish and UK governance and regulatory environments for disability<\/a> services\u201d.<\/p>\n

Noting it had received funding from the HSE for more than 17 years, the charity said it had \u201cfully complied\u201d with the health service\u2019s monitoring and reporting requirements, which are \u201cconstantly checked and scrutinised by the HSE\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Health Service Executive (HSE) deducted \u20ac100,000 from an autism charity in 2019 as a \u201cvalue improvement payment\u201d…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":649384,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[6128,72,420,1418,61,60,2443,12636,12467,303],"class_list":["post-649383","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-autism","tag-business","tag-disability","tag-health-service-executive-hse","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-northern-ireland","tag-oireachtas","tag-public-accounts-committee","tag-united-kingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/649383","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=649383"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/649383\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/649384"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=649383"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=649383"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=649383"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}