While the homelessness charity's units are obtained or built for the purposes of housing people on local authority waiting lists, Mr Doyle’s friend, company director Alan Bollard, did not qualify for social housing.
The house, located in Co Kildare, was leased to him for 25 years at a preferential rent of 80% of the market rate.
Prime Time has previously reported on the existence of the arrangement, but has now obtained evidence showing a close friendship between Mr Doyle and Mr Bollard to the extent that their families went on holidays and outings together over a period of years.
One of the photos obtained by Prime Time shows Mr Doyle and Mr Bollard on a boating outing, clad in lifejackets. That photo was taken in August 2016, two months before the McVerry Trust house bought the house where Mr Bollard resides with his family.Other photos from July 2017, appear to show Mr Doyle, Mr Bollard, and their families on a camping holiday in Wexford.
One photo shows Mr Doyle and Mr Bollard having dinner together in a campsite, with their partners. Another shows the two men relaxing on foldable chairs.
Because the McVerry Trust's mission is to provide services to homeless people, its homes are intended to be provided to those who qualify for social housing.
Not only did the tenant not qualify under the McVerry Trust’s usual criteria, but the charity’s own internal processes for purchasing and letting the house would appear to have been circumvented. Staff who would normally be involved in the processes were not informed, and the charity’s own board was also kept in the dark.
Mr Bollard did not respond to a recent email from Prime Time seeking comment, but when previously asked about the tenancy, he said he had "no comment" and that any questions "should be taken up at the landlord."
While he has done nothing wrong in relation to the tenancy, it raises questions about how the McVerry Trust used its charitable funds in this instance.
In another of the joint-holiday photos obtained by Prime Time, Mr Doyle appears to raise a toast, holding a champagne flute while Mr Bollard holds up a glass of beer. That photo dates from May 2018.
Later that year, Mr Bollard’s company, Kildare-based Passenger Travel Solutions, began supplying a transport service shuttling residents to and from a large McVerry Trust facility at Kerdiffstown House in Kildare.
That contract, worth over €1.18m from 2018 to 2023, was given by the charity to Mr Bollard’s company without a tender process. The €1.18m was provided by the Dublin Regional Homeless Executive, which operates under the aegis of Dublin City Council.
When previously asked by Prime Time about the charity’s failure to tender, Mr Bollard said that he "wouldn't know anything about that. I put in a price for a contract to operate minibuses, and that's what I do."
While Mr Bollard’s company did nothing wrong in securing the transport contract, the McVerry Trust, as a charity funded significantly by public money, breached its obligations to advertise such contracts.
Public contracts for goods and services valued at over €50,000, excluding VAT, must be advertised on the government’s tendering platform, etenders.ie.
Prime Time has learned that because the shuttle bus service had not been put out to tender, Dublin City Council demanded that the McVerry Trust repay €66,566 it provided in 2024 for the shuttle service. That money was repaid, but the council did not seek repayment of the €1.18m it had paid for the contract over previous years.
The contract was, ultimately, put out for tender in December 2024, and the service is no longer supplied by Passenger Travel Solutions.
Mr Bollard’s connections with the McVerry Trust were not limited to his role as a tenant and a contractor, however. In November 2021, when Mr Doyle was still CEO, he was appointed as the charity’s Head of Logistics. The McVerry Trust confirmed to Prime Time that "The appointment was made directly by the former CEO without competition."
His appointment meant that, for around 18 months, Mr Bollard was simultaneously a tenant of the McVerry Trust, as well as one of its contractors, and one of its managers.
An internal charity document written soon after Mr Doyle left his position as CEO in 2023 noted that employing someone as a worker and a contractor would "fall foul" of certain public service rules that "you cannot be both an employee and contracted service provider to one organisation."
Former CEO Pat Doyle has declined or ignored repeated requests for interview from Prime Time.
The McVerry Trust is one of the country’s largest organisations providing support, accommodation, and services to people who are homeless.
According to its website it has "been responsible for 61% of the services delivered under the National Housing First Implementation Plan" since 2020. The Housing First model provides intensive support and services to rough sleepers or long-term homeless, many of whom may be suffering addiction or mental health issues.
In 2023, the Charities Regulatory Authority (CRA) and the Approved Housing Bodies Regulatory Authority (AHBRA) began investigations into the McVerry Trust after Francis Doherty, who took over as CEO in June of that year, alerted them to governance issues at the charity.
The regulators’ investigation reports were published last year.
The current chair of the charity, Tony O’Brien, told the Dáil Public Accounts Committee last month that the charity is "actively working to meet the conditions set out by both the AHBRA and the Charities Regulatory Authority.
This includes a detailed compliance plan with clear milestones and timelines, which we are implementing in close consultation with both bodies. We are committed to building a financially sound, transparent and accountable organisation that can deliver its mission with integrity."