A senior official of the ISPCC was being questioned by gardai early today in connection with ongoing investigations into alleged fraud in the charity by the Garda Bureau of Fraud Investigation.
The man was arrested at about 10 p.m. and was detained at Harcourt Terrace under the provisions of Section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act.
The arrest follows weeks of speculation about the finances of the ISPCC following a report in the Sunday Business Post on December 20th.
The paper reported that street collectors had been "shortchanged" by the charity "in respect of commissions due to them". According to the paper, the amounts in 10 sealed collectors' buckets, containing known amounts of money, had been underestimated in every case by the ISPCC.
Contacted at midnight last night, the chairwoman of the ISPCC, Ms Mary Bennett, said she had become aware only minutes previously that the official had been detained. She said she had no information at that stage.
Earlier yesterday Ms Bennett had been discussing with the chief executive of the charity, Mr Cian O Tighearnaigh, a number of possible measures to deal with the issues which had arisen in recent weeks.
The Irish Times understands that the ISPCC had been working on a two-pronged plan yesterday to deal with the controversy engulfing the organisation.
Under the plan, the accountants and consultants Deloitte & Touche would be called in to make recommendations on the management of the organisation. A group would also be set up within the ISPCC to look at the grievances which have been voiced by former volunteers in recent days.
It was intended that this group would include a representative of one of the eight regional health boards and possibly of the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre, which has shared a platform with the ISPCC to press for mandatory reporting of child abuse.
These measures may still go ahead today as ISPCC's national executive looks to the task of ensuring a future for the organisation in the light of last night's developments. The arrest is likely to be damaging regardless of the outcome.
Mr O Tighearnaigh said last Thursday that no allegation of fraud had been made against the organisation. He described the Garda investigation as "routine".