A small business in West Dublin has found itself in a bizarre tug-of-war with Vision Ireland.
In February 2023, Curran Recovery and Towing received a call to tow a van belonging to Vision Ireland, with the expectation that the van would be claimed by the charity.
Nearly three years later, the van, full of donations from the public, has been left unclaimed, leaving Curran Recovery and Towing on the hook for the associated costs of hosting the van on its premises, with Vision Ireland ignoring invoices and pleas for the van to be collected.
Speaking to Northside People at his premises in St. Margaret’s, owner Mark Curran said that his company charges a fee of €50 a day, with the van, donated by the retailer Carraig Donn, gathering dust for nearly three years.
Curran says that he is owed €37,825.
“For a small business like me, that is a lot of money; it’s the making and breaking of me,” Curran explained.
“I operate on such tight margins, so that money means an awful lot to me, but at the same time I’m less concerned about the money side of it; it’s more the principle of it. A charity has let a van, full of public donations, collect dust in my yard for nearly three years, and they show no interest in picking it up.”
Curran said that the clothes are now essentially “scrap” as they have been kept in a van for the best part of three years.
Curran remarked, “I’m just the guy who answered the phone, now I’m caught in the middle of all this.”
Repeated invoices and communication between Curran Recovery and Towing and Vision Ireland, seen by Northside People, show a clear pattern of the case being brought to Vision Ireland’s attention, it reaching a certain point or a vow to be escalated further up the chain at Vision Ireland, only for the trail to go cold again.
The van, which has been left to gather dust since early 2023
Curran said he initially brought the van to the charity’s attention in early 2023.
Correspondence to Earl Doyle, general distribution manager at NCBI, showed that the affair has been ongoing since February 2023.
The correspondence, which has been seen by Northside People, relays that Doyle said “the van that’s parked in Widtworth needs to be moved. I just got my head ripped off. Can’t park there anymore. Can you get it moved, please?”
Brendan Teeling, a mechanic who was under the employment of the NCBI at the time, relayed “I explained that I had no room in my garage to store it. I have previously been reported by residents who objected to having vans parked in the area; I put the van in storage with Mark Curran with Earl’s permission at his yard.”
“I tried to call him on March 6, and again on April 17 and did not receive any answer.”
He noted that on July 6, Doyle was contacted again about the van, with Doyle claiming he “forgot” about the van and promised that it would be moved within the week.
Over two years later, the van, full of public donations such as clothing, has been left unclaimed.
In the correspondence, Teeling wrote, “I eventually spoke to Earl on the phone and he asked if I was threatening him and did not return my subsequent calls.”
“I find this very frustrating as I have helped Earl out on a number of occasions when he did not want to include an invoice such as when the driver put the incorrect fuel into a van, then the van was crashed into at the garage in Naas. I repaired it to the value of €3,000 and swallowed the invoice into other van repairs so I wouldn’t get him in trouble. My aim was to be of assistance to Earl, yet I was personally out of pocket to the tune of €1,800 for several months,” Teeling alleged.
Teeling wrote, “the van is still in the yard full of stock and is racking up charges every day, this is no way for a charity to behave.”
“I have gone above and beyond for Earl since he took on the fleet, the way I have been treated is very unfair, I would always have tried to help him in any way I could especially as he had got himself into trouble.”
Curran spoke of the “arrogance” of the charity, and remarked, “I wouldn’t even give them a fiver” after the way he had been treated.
“If they think they can bully me and make me go away, they won’t.”
WhatsApp correspondence sent to Curran, and seen by Northside People, said that the charity “s**t a brick” when they initially heard of the complaint about the van.
“That’s bloody Earl (Doyle), trying to get out of a hole he’s put the NCBI in by not paying a bill.”
The WhatsApp text said, “they (Carraig Donn) will be livid to know that their donations have been sitting in the back of a van for that length of time.”
Legal action has been pursued in an attempt to get the charity to pay what they are owed, with a Wexford-based solicitors looking to intervene and put an end to the saga on behalf of Vision Ireland/NCBI.
In a letter, dated September 30, the solicitors wrote, “our client (Vision Ireland/National Council For The Blind of Ireland) now proposes to take steps to recover the vehicle located at your premises. This will allow our client to retrieve the vehicle and provide your company to mitigate its position and, in particular, any losses which it has incurred.”
“Thereafter, any dispute in relation to any sums claimed to be owed by our client can be resolved in the appropriate forum.”
In April, an article in the Irish Independent reported that three separate investigations are underway into the governance at Vision Ireland, which is based in Drumcondra.
The article, written by Fionnan Sheahan, reported that the charity had “pressing cashflow requirements” despite the charity receiving €8.3 million a year in taxpayer funding.
The virtue that charity has been unwilling to collect a van, which was donated to them as a gift and is full of donations from the public, as well as their reluctance to pay Curran’s business, point to major signs of dysfunction within the charity.
“There’s someone trying to cover up for someone in there; why has it taken the best part of three years for them to collect the van?” Curran alleged.