Irish Red Cross - Controversies

Controversies

In 2009, some financial irregularities were revealed anonymously on an anonymous blog by a whistleblower, Noel Wardick, who was head of the international department. The Irish Red Cross sought court orders to obtain Mr Wardick's identity from UPC and Google, which were granted. Wardick was dismissed. Wardick had revealed that €162,000 collected locally for the 2004 Asian tsunami had remained unspent in a bank account years after the event.

In 2010, an internal enquiry into Wardick's allegations found other such bank accounts, and proposals to overhaul the IRC's management were discussed in the Dáil on 15 December. Questions were answered by Tony Killeen, then the Minister of Defence.

In 2011, Donal Forde was appointed as the new secretary-general on a salary of €95,000 p.a.. In 2002–09, Forde had formerly been managing director of Allied Irish Banks, which collapsed and was effectively nationalized by late 2010. In 2008, Forde had described the bank's lending policy to an Oireachtas committee as "very prudent", but acknowledged in 2011 that ".. we were wrong".