THE ORGANISERS of The Hope & Dream 10 run in Enniscorthy and The Gerard Murphy Memorial Run in Ferns were among those expressing their shock and sadness this week following the revelations of financial impropriety within suicide prevention charity Console.

A report by Prime Time into the financial dealings of Console rocked the country last week alleging that CEO Paul Kelly had spent nearly €500,000 on designer clothes, foreign trips and even groceries and used a total of 11 Console credit cards between 2012 and 2014.

The disgraced CEO was a familiar face in Enniscorthy, having arrived to collect a cheque to the value of over €73k raised during the Hope & Dream Run in 2014. Over two years of involvement, Console pocketed nearly €145k from Hope & Dream, however, organisers have stressed that the money raised stayed locally and can be accounted for.

Similarly, Kelly was present to make Bríd Murphy, who along with her husband Pat organises the Gerard Murphy Memorial Run, an official ambassador of the charity in 2013. The classic and vintage car run has raised over €60k for the charity to date.

Wexford Manager of Console Denis O’Connor has said that all of the money raised for the charity by events in Wexford had stayed within the county and that “the work is there to be seen”.

For more reaction to the Console controversy, see this week’s Echo

Console Wexford Manager Denis O’Connor (left) and disgraced CEO Paul Kelly at the opening of the Console Office at Frances Street, Wexford in 2010. Pic: Christy Farrell.