A growing number of creditors are taking action against the troubled Peter McVerry Trust to force the charity to pay debts allegedly owed.
Prime Time spoke to two suppliers who say they are on the cusp of launching legal proceedings.
Two others have already begun High Court action.
Property management firm Gary Martin Property Services, which is now in voluntary liquidation, began High Court proceedings against the charity in January, while maintenance contractor Rubycon Developments did so earlier this month.
Rubycon did not respond to a request for comment, but Prime Time understands it claims to be owed in the region of €2m.
A fifth supplier, who claims to be owed over a quarter of a million euro, has appointed a debt collector to pursue the charity.
The McVerry Trust told Prime Time in a statement that it has reached agreement with a significant number of its outstanding creditors.
"From a peak in January 2024 of 373 the Trust is now liaising with approximately 70 creditors and the amount claimed by creditors has been reduced by more than 50%," it said.
John Kinsella, the managing director of AccurA Security, which installed CCTV systems and computer networks for the charity, recently hired the Dublin-based debt collector to help recover €118,000 which he says his business is owed directly by the McVerry Trust.
That €118,000 figure includes a late-payment surcharge of slightly over €20,000.
Under EU regulations, interest on overdue payments may be charged at an annual rate of 8% plus the prevailing European Central Bank refinancing rate, which is currently 3.4%.
Mr Kinsella also claims he is owed a further €138,900 by a building and maintenance contractor for work done for the Trust.
That contractor is Rubycon, whose court papers were lodged on 14 November, the same day that AccurA Security hired its debt collector.
Debt collectors, who usually receive a percentage of any debt recovered, are typically persistent - knocking on debtors' doors, making phone calls, sending letters and emails.
Some of the money allegedly outstanding to AccurA Security relates to work carried out over two years ago.
"It is hurting us," Mr Kinsella told Prime Time. "And on a personal level it is extremely hurtful to know you went out of your way to be helpful. I was out there [at McVerry Trust facilities] on nights when networks were ripped down [by clients] in the freezing cold; it was me leaving my family in the middle of the night."
The McVerry Trust is currently under investigation by the Approved Housing Bodies Regulatory Authority.
A separate, but parallel, investigation by the Charities Regulatory Authority last month reported its findings, which were damning of previous governance practices at the charity.
Regarding its remaining creditors, the McVerry Trust said in its statement that "...the two largest creditors account for three quarters of the remaining balance. They have been paid a portion of what they claim and the Trust's legal advisers are liaising with their solicitors regarding the disputed sums."
The main obstacle to suppliers getting paid relates to paperwork. Under its former CEO Pat Doyle, who led the charity as CEO from 2005 to 2023 and was also its Director of Finance for most of those years, work was rarely offered for public tender and written quotations were often not requested from established suppliers.
"The Trust made the vast majority of requests [to carry out work] verbally," Mr Kinsella said.
There was no purchase order system at the charity until late 2023.
"As a result," according to the Charities Regulator report published last month, "PMVT’s liabilities and expenses" were "at risk of misstatement."
In 2023, the charity thought it owed trade creditors €4m when it actually owed them €8m, the report stated.
The charity has since tightened up on its procurement processes – however Mr Kinsella of AccurA Security claims that it is applying its tightened processes retrospectively – implementing current strict standards when paying legacy debts.
He cites an August 2024 email from audit firm PwC which is now processing payments on behalf of the McVerry Trust.
In the email, PwC sought "written confirmation between AccurA Security and PMVT to substantiate an agreement for services with PMVT" as well as tenders (if available), written requests for work confirmation, quotes provided, and approvals provided by PMVT, for the work completed.
Several suppliers, including Mr Kinsella, told Prime Time that in many cases such paperwork never existed.
In its statement, the charity said it has put in place a "legacy creditor payment plan" which "requires submission of standard documentation including contracts for service, invoices, statements and other relevant supporting information."
"Where the necessary contractual documentation is lacking, Peter McVerry Trust has sought proof of works done, to an acceptable standard, before payment can be authorised. PwC is assisting in this process," it said.
The statement added: "It is notable that the vast majority of creditors were able to demonstrate that their claims were payable and they have been paid...Peter McVerry Trust will continue to work with all outstanding creditors to pay the sums justly due to them."
Rubycon Developments, which was one of the largest suppliers to the McVerry Trust for a number of years, is owned by a brother of the charity’s former longtime external auditor, Donal Ryan.
Like AccurA Security, much of its work was commissioned without the charity adhering to its own procurement processes.
Internal documents seen by Prime Time showed that Rubycon was paid millions of euros for work that was not advertised for public tender.
As a publicly funded organisation, the Peter McVerry Trust is bound by regulations to offer for public tender contracts for goods and services worth over €50,000.
An unpublished draft report by the Approved Housing Bodies Regulatory Authority seen by Prime Time baldly states that these regulations "were not implemented" by the charity.
The draft report also states that "a list of 'Established Partners’ (preferred suppliers)…" used by the charity "was not tendered for, but should have been, in the context of significant expenditures incurred with each."
Corporate governance experts have told Prime Time that it is unfair to the suppliers to expect them to now provide documentation which was not part of the charity’s original purchasing processes.
To prove his claims, Mr Kinsella has supplied detailed invoices to the McVerry Trust. He also said that at the time the work was completed he typically supplied photographs to McVerry Trust managers of work done.
These included photographic stills from CCTV cameras (which his firm installed) showing him working on configuring IT systems at PMVT properties in Drogheda in August 2023 and Wexford in July 2022.
He says he has not been paid for this work.
He also says that if his debt collector is not successful, he, too, will sue the McVerry Trust.