The chaotic, obtuse, and self-serving mismanagement alleged at the Peter McVerry Trust is disheartening and appalling. It’s disingenuous and cruel to those who work for charities at the ground-level, and humiliating for those that donate in good faith, making them feel foolish and naïve. Sadly, it’s not even a new story; we’ve been here before with other public charities like Bóthar and Console, with historical cases of massive salaries at the top table in the Central Remedial Clinic and Rehab.

When talking about charities and voluntary bodies the tendency is to tread carefully; the illusion is that the people involved must, by definition, be good people. They do all this volunteer work, and so are beyond criticism in the public sphere. It’s considered crass to wonder aloud about the abuse of power, and to call it out when goodness turns into a god-delusion.

Being a ‘selfless soul’ does not necessarily mean being a good or decent person, and you don’t need to go as far as a national charity to see that. All across this island there are megalomaniacs in charge of community councils, GAA clubs, and Tidy Towns committees. Not all, we know that, but there are plenty still.

They’ve usually been in-situ for a long, long time. They come with the affidavit that ‘Oh he’s a dose…but sure, doesn’t he do a lot for the parish. If he didn’t do it, who would?’

No one knows what would happen if someone else did it; they don’t get a chance. Good luck if you’re a blow-in, or a young parent, or have a different idea for how things could be done. God speed to the energetic soul who thinks the Halloween parade could take a different route, or that a canopy might be a prudent idea in an Irish summer at an outdoor food festival. They’ll be shushed up by the elder and wiser and more knowledgeable: ‘this is the way it’s always been done’.

It’s understandable in a way. ‘Nice’ people don’t typically make great leaders. They’re too…nice. They won’t tell a secretary or a PRO that the job they’re doing isn’t good enough. Nice people are unwilling to pester a local representative or a county councillor for funding, or to harass a TD for the necessary attention. Nice people are less able to tell a local news reporter to feck off when they ask questions about the annual accounts.

Instead, nice people do the actual work. They make the tea, stand at church gates and supermarket doorways with buckets, and marshal in draughty parish halls making signs for St Patrick’s Day, First Holy Communion parties, Active Retirement parties, and GAA homecomings. Powerful people, even the unpaid ones, stand in for the photo of the cheque presentation, put themselves up for re-election unopposed, and believe that they’re the best ones for the job. The problem is, that stops being true at a certain point and they won’t see it. At that point, their halo is too bright. Their goodness blinds them.

A ban from Down Under

Australia has become the first country to ban social media for under-16s; Malaysia will follow suit next year. This is going to be fascinating, but it is of course imperfect and the results a long way away. AI platforms aren’t included in the ban, nor are gaming sites.

However, it will be interesting to see a generation grow up where social media accounts are not considered ‘normal’.

Will it be like smoking, of drinking underage, and therefore tastier? To be fair, none of us can see Facebook ever being ‘cool’ again and so, with bans like this, could this be the death of the curse of social media? The end my be nigh; we just need to wait 10 years to see if the ban works.