Major cuts at Bóthar contribute to losses reducing by €100,854 in 2024
Kenneth Fox
Massive cuts at Bóthar in 2024 contributed to the charity reducing its losses last year by 64.5 per cent to €100,854 as the charity continued to recover from the financial scandal that hit the organisation in 2021.
New accounts for the Co Limerick-based Bóthar CLG show that the charity reduced its losses from €282,824 in 2023 to €100,854 last year as it reduced its costs by 40 per cent from €1.05 million to €628,852 in the 12 months to the end of June last.
Revenues at the charity last year continued to slide declining by 32pc from €768,595 to €525,739. The revenues compare to pre-scandal and pre-Covid 19 revenues of €4.6 million in 2019.
The former chief executive of Bóthar admitted misappropriating funds from the Limerick charity and has said he shared tens of thousands of euros in cash with two founding members of the organisation.
The cuts over the last three years at the charity have included redundancies while Bóthar has sold its properties in Dublin and Limerick as it continues to deal with the fallout from the financial scandal that hit the charity in 2021.
In the new accounts signed off by the board on March 25th, the directors state that a Garda criminal investigation following a formal complaint into historical practices is ongoing, while a separate investigation by the Charities Regulatory Authority into the company’s former financial irregularities has been paused pending the outcome of the Garda investigation
The directors state that there has been extraordinary but necessary cost curtailment measures in the last three financial periods, including costs associated with the winding down of certain aspects of the company’s operations.
They state that “these actions were overwhelming for the organisation but were necessary to bring the company to a position of stability and recoup public confidence”.
The directors state that “these actions allow the company to return to its core focus, to rebuild the programme activities”.
On the charity’s going concern status, the directors state that “Bóthar continues to apply cost reductions where necessary.”
They state: “A target to achieve a low deficit in the financial year ended 2024 was successful and the company’s next target is to arrive at a break-even in 2025.”
The accounts state that the advances that the company has made in the financial years of 2022, 2023, and 2024 “demonstrates a significant progression towards full compliance with Governance requirements and particularly those of the Charity Regulator”.
The note states that “this process has had a substantial impact on both the company’s finances and reputation, resulting in the sale of its premises in both the Dublin and Limerick locations.
“While the company continues in its charitable activities, the associated overheads in doing so have proven strenuous on the company’s reserves.
The directors state that the sale of the Limerick premises last year “resulted in an uplift of cash resources”. Cash funds increased from €261,888 to €465,232 in 2024.
The note states: “As the company have reduced their expenses by a substantial level in recent years, the board intends to utilise the cash resources towards further marketing campaigns and funding projects to spread more information on the company’ work and with continued fund-raising, further secure the future of the organisation’s mission.”
The number of employees reduced from four to three as staff costs declined from €308,248 to €224,968.
Donations dipped from €284,695 in 2023 to €273,476 last year, while income from legacies increased from €142,900 to €184,263. Donations in kind plummeted from €341,000 to €68,000.
The alleged misappropriation of funds at Bóthar first came to public attention in 2021 through Bóthar taking High Court injunction proceedings against its former ceo, David Moloney.
Alleged irregularities first came to light in Bóthar during the 2019 financial year from an anonymous whistleblower concerning inappropriate travel expenses.
