The High Court has appointed a provisional liquidator to the charity Console after hearing it is €294,000 in debt and is unable to ensure maintenance of its service to people affected by suicide.
Mr Justice Paul Gilligan appointed Tom Murray, of Friel Stafford, as provisional liquidator as efforts were being made by the HSE to come to an agreement with an alternative body which can continue the counselling and other services which Console provided.
Freezing orders have been obtained over the assets of three of the directors including its founder Paul Kelly and his wife Patricia. The court heard the other directors were not even aware they were directors, never attended board meetings and had no information about what went on at the charity.
The court heard negotiations with the alternative provider were at a very advanced stage and should be completed later this afternoon when the court will be updated.
In an application seeking the winding up, David Hall, interim chief executive of Console, said the charity had roughly 10,000 phone calls and 10,000 text messages to its helpline along with 5,000 counselling sessions in 2015.
There is an average of 29 calls per day to its helpline, it assists around 6,000 individuals on an annual basis with 314 currently receiving one-to-one counselling. It employs 12 people full time and has 60 contracted counsellors around the country.
Loss making
Mr Hall reviewed the accounts and learned the charity had been loss making for several years although, he said, the accounts perhaps showed otherwise.
Accounts for year ended 2014 showed an operating surplus of €17,490 - but it was balance sheet insolvent with a deficit of €105,739, he said.
Console operated by virtue of grants and donations but the only reason it has survived over the last number of years was support from the HSE, which gives it €53,000 per month, he said.
As a result of the fallout from current revelations, grants and donations had fallen to a trickle.
Mr Hall believes the charity requires a monthly income of €105,000. It appeared that up until now it operated a monthly deficit and, following large fundraising events, some but not all these debts were cleared.
The €294,808 debt is made up of €77,500 due to Revenue, €74,421 due in wages for staff who are due to be paid on July 20th, and €90,860 due to suppliers.
It also operates a number of rented premises around the country and has not been in a position to pay the rent on some of these.
Even if the HSE support continued, it could not meet its obligations, primarily outreach services, face-to-face counselling and phone counselling.
The board of directors resolved on Wednesday to put Console into liquidation. Mr Hall also met Minister for Health Simon Harris on Wednesday in relation to his concerns over its future. There was also significant engagement with the HSE about continuation of the service by an alternative provider.
Hopelessly insolvent
Mr Justice Gilligan was satisfied Console appeared to be hopelessly insolvent and not in a positon to meet its liabilities.
He was appointing the provisional liquidator in circumstances where the HSE appears to have found an alternative provider of the service and about which the court would be updated later today.
Additional powers he granted to the liquidator were to provide the HSE, or the new provider, with any data relating to the files of people who are receiving counselling but this would only be with the consent of those clients.
The judge also said he hoped the Director of Corporate Enforcement and lawyers for Console could come to an agreement in the meantime about confining any files required by the director for a criminal investigation to those relating to the charity’s corporate affairs.