Reports of financial misdealings by the Catholic Institute for Deaf People (CIDP) featured in Ireland’s national press in July 2017, after a Health Service Executive (HSE) audit of entities that receive its annual funding allocations. The CIDP manages specialist deaf education including the Holy Family School (amalgamated from St Mary’s and St Joseph’s Schools), the Deaf Education Centre, a preschool for deaf children and elder care for vulnerable adults.
Deaf charity credit cards used to buy alcohol, a watch and vouchers for Michelin-starred restaurant https://t.co/9601w0NMP5
— The Irish Times (@IrishTimes) July 12, 2017
An interactive spreadsheet presented by The Irish Times (above) shows excessive spending on non-charity items from 2012 to 2015, a period when the CIDP received over €17.8 million from the HSE. Meantime the Irish Examiner reports a €155 bottle of whiskey being put on a credit card and talks of ‘hidden wanton spending’ by the CEO in a second article on the topic.
Spending on specialist deaf schools and educational attainment is being investigated internationally, as Sound Advice noted in a 2015 post (above). The team here would really like HSE funding to reassign to public hearing and speech services for all ages (including infant intervention), for individuals to live independently in their own home communities.
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