{"id":675092,"date":"2026-11-04T22:04:10","date_gmt":"2026-11-04T22:04:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/675092\/"},"modified":"2026-11-04T22:04:10","modified_gmt":"2026-11-04T22:04:10","slug":"aengus-o-snodaigh-says-liberty-recycling-letter-was-forged-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/675092\/","title":{"rendered":"Aengus \u00d3 Snodaigh says Liberty Recycling letter was forged \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sinn F\u00e9in TD Aengus \u00d3 Snodaigh<\/a> has said a letter submitted by an employee of Liberty Recyling to the High Court<\/a> bearing his signature was forged. <\/p>\n

\u00d3 Snodaigh is the chair of the board of the clothing charity at the centre of a Garda<\/a> investigation into allegations of money laundering<\/a>. <\/p>\n

In a personal statement issued on Wednesday, \u00d3 Snodaigh said he had absolutely no knowledge of alleged criminal activity occurring within the charity.<\/p>\n

However, he accepted criticisms made by the Charities Regulator of shortcomings in oversight and governance by the directors, including him. <\/p>\n

\u00d3 Snodaigh said that during the course of the investigation he discovered that a submission made by the charity contained his forged signature. He said he had asked garda\u00ed to investigate it. <\/p>\n

\u201cI have been shocked to discover that a letter submitted to the High Court bears a signature purporting to be mine,\u201d he said in the statement on Wednesday. <\/p>\n

\u201cI did not sign that letter, authorise anyone to sign it on my behalf, or know of its existence before it was disclosed to me following the hearing.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have formally submitted a complaint to An Garda S\u00edoch\u00e1na<\/a> concerning this apparent forgery and asked that it be fully investigated.\u201d <\/p>\n

[\u00a0Aengus \u00d3 Snodaigh bid for D\u00e1il statement not accepted, Sinn F\u00e9in saysOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

\u00d3 Snodaigh said he had absolutely no knowledge of alleged criminal activity occurring within the charity, and that he was shocked by the allegations that had emerged. <\/p>\n

\u201cI fully support the investigations by An Garda S\u00edoch\u00e1na and the Charities Regulator. The facts must be established and anyone responsible for wrongdoing held accountable.\u201d <\/p>\n

Liberty Recycling collects used clothes throughout Dublin<\/a> and recycles them to raise money for disadvantaged communities and recovering drug users in the south inner city. <\/p>\n

Two high-powered BMW SUVs, worth more than \u20ac200,000, and a cache of luxury and designer items were seized by garda\u00ed in raids on premises owned by people associated with the charity. <\/p>\n

The Dublin South Central TD had applied to make a personal statement to the D\u00e1il<\/a> on Wednesday but, when not granted, released it to the media. <\/p>\n

Outlining his involvement, he accepted the Charities Regulator had made serious criticisms of the governance and oversight exercised by the trustees and directors. <\/p>\n

\u201cThose criticisms include my role as chairperson. I accept them,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

\u201cMy reasons for becoming involved were sincere. But good intentions do not remove the responsibilities of a trustee and chairperson. I accept my responsibility to answer for my role. <\/p>\n

\u201cFor clarity, I am not under Garda investigation. There is no suggestion that I, or the other trustees, were involved in, or aware of, the alleged criminal activity.\u201d<\/p>\n

The three-page statement sets out how \u00d3 Snodaigh agreed to chair the charity 20 years ago. <\/p>\n

\u201cAs a public representative, I have spent much of my life working alongside communities devastated by addiction,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

\u201cI have also seen the difference that practical support, meaningful work and an opportunity to rebuild a life [makes]. That was my motivation for agreeing with the local drugs taskforce to chair this charity over the past 20 years in an entirely voluntary capacity.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can confirm that I have never received remuneration in my role.\u201d <\/p>\n

[\u00a0Liberty Recycling: Fine Gael asks PAC chair to summon Charities Regulator and othersOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

He said the directors of the company had agreed to a voluntary liquidation when the allegations came to light and the chief executive officer had been suspended without prejudice. <\/p>\n

\u201cMy immediate concern is for those facing uncertainty about their employment, training and recovery support.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery effort is being made to secure alternative employment or community employment places and continuity of support. These people must not bear the consequences of matters in which they played no part.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe people who relied on this service came looking for a chance to move forward. Their welfare must remain a priority throughout the work ahead,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sinn F\u00e9in TD Aengus \u00d3 Snodaigh has said a letter submitted by an employee of Liberty Recyling to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":675093,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[74095,45,88446,42,43,3415,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-675092","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-aengus-o-snodaigh","tag-an-garda-siochana","tag-charities-regulator","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-sinn-fein","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/675092","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=675092"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/675092\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/675093"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=675092"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=675092"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=675092"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}