An organisation which promoted itself as raising funds for stroke sufferers has had its charitable status withdrawn by the Revenue Commissioners.
The Dublin telephone number of the organisation, the Irish Stroke Foundation, is no longer in service. Eircom said its current telephone number is ex-directory.
In a letter to an inquirer in January, the organisation's chief executive, Mr Mark O'Neill, included a leaflet which said the foundation had been "established to bridge the gap between regional health boards and the requirements of hospitals around the country.
"In our endeavours to assist as many institutions and individuals as possible, we fund the capital cost of specialised equipment such as electric beds, nursing chairs and remedial after-stroke exercise equipment."
The letter was written from an address in Kells, Co Meath. There was no reply to the phone numbers at the address when The Irish Times rang yesterday.
An invitation to hospitals all over Ireland to apply for funding to the foundation appeared as a news item on the Irish Nurses' Organisation website in 1998 with a request for volunteers to sell scratch cards and help in a house-to-house collection. There is no connection between the INO and the foundation.
In a letter issued this month the private secretary to the Minister for Finance told the Disability Federation of Ireland: "The position in relation to the Irish Stroke Foundation is that on the 31st January, 1997, charitable exemption was granted to this body. Following a review of their activities, the charitable exemption granted to the Irish Stroke Foundation was withdrawn from the date it was originally granted and all relevant parties were notified accordingly."