Tag Archives: Inner City Helping Homeless

Dublin City Council members voted against the co-option Geraldine Molloy (above) to fill the council seat left vacant by the death of homelessness campaigner Anthony Flynn

City Hall, Dublin 2.

At their March monthly meeting on Monday, Dublin City Councillors voted against a motion to co-opt Geraldine Molloy, a former staff member of Inner City Helping Homeless, to fill the council seat vacated by the death of independent Councillor Anthony Flynn. The Inner City Helping Homeless (ICHH) charity was wound up last year following multiple allegations of sexual assault against Mr Flynn, the founder and CEO, and his death in August 2021.

Anon writes:

Footage of the debate around filling the seat of Anthony Flynn on DCC was put up online last night. Forty minutes long, but full of wild accusations and grandstanding, it’s surprisingly good viewing….

Watch here

Filling the Council Seat of Anthony Flynn (Dublin Inquirer)

DCC

From top: Anthony Flynn; Oonagh Smyth and ‘John’

Last night.

On RTÉ One’s Prime Time.

John, not his real name, told reporter Oonagh Smyth (top) that he was raped by the late CEO of Inner City Helping Homeless Anthony Flynn.

John’s identity was protected and his words were spoken by an actor. Before John told his story, Ms Smyth explained that many people across Dublin don’t believe him or the three other people who have claimed they were assaulted by Mr Flynn.

She reported that the situation has led to negative commentary towards the survivors and, in one case, one man had to be moved from their homeless accommodation.

John told the programme that he first approached Mr Flynn when he was facing eviction. At the time he had just lost his job, before the pandemic, and was in significant arrears.

He told Prime Time:

“I was in a bad way when I met Anthony. I was in a bad state after losing my job. I was on antidepressants. I was vulnerable. I wasn’t myself at the time. When I contacted him, I thought he was a saviour. I thought he was a person who was going to help me out, like. I actually sent him a message on Facebook messenger and explained my situation at the time. He told me, ‘I’ll meet ya’.

“So I asked him, like, ‘can I come to your office?’. He said, ‘no, no, no, I’ll send you a message after work’. Yeah, that’s when he sent me a message and told me I should go to his house and that he was going to send me a taxi from my home to his place which he did send me a taxi that night.

“And I went straight to his house. And then he offered me a drink. And then, I just don’t know what happened after the drink. I woke up in the middle of the night as well and he came over and yeah, he did what he did when I was there, still when I was alert, it just happened all night.

“That first night, he sexually molested me.”

Ms Smyth told the programme:

“John says he was held against his will at Anthony’s home over two nights. He says he felt the effect of a drug and was out of it. On the second night, he alleges he and another man were assaulted.”

John continued:

“He just raped me that night again, with the young guy as well who was there and we were locked there again, me and that young guy. He did hit me and I remember he did hit me. In the end I just became submissive and did whatever he wanted me to do.”

Ms Smyth reported that John returned to Mr Flynn’s home two more times – once when he was sexually assaulted again and another time when Mr Flynn took his phone from him.

She added:

“Asked what made him return, John says it was a combination of desperation and fear. Yet the effects of the assaults were profound.”

John said:

“Since then I ended up in a bad situation myself. My mental health, I just had a mental breakdown. I remember I stayed in my house for nearly three months and I never came out. I just stayed in the dark, switched off the lights, pulled down the blinds. It’s something I’m still struggling with you know.”

Ms Smyth reported that John said Mr Flynn told him he knew “numerous” gardai and felt that if he reported what happened, he would not be believed.

But John reported what happened weeks after Mr Flynn’s death by suicide in August.

John said:

“It’s a fear of people knowing it’s me; that was the biggest fear until now. Even when I went to do the statement, that time with the guards, it took me a lot of courage, a lot of courage to go there. I remember when I walked out of Store Street Garda Station, I looked around me, to see if anyone had seen me going in there.”

John has tried to take his life twice. He told the programme:

“I just crashed, I swear to God. Yeah, it’s just the fear. I don’t know what is going to happen, like.”

“My motive [to speaking out now] is kind of hoping to help other victims out there get the courage and also it’s about creating awareness about what happened. The biggest thing for myself is getting the support from it all as well because my mental health is not that great. It crashes on a daily basis, that’s the main thing.”

In regards to negative comments about John and the other three people who have come forward, John said:

“There is no understanding because they knew Anthony in a different way. I don’t blame them because that’s not what they knew. Anthony portrayed himself as a saviour or a fighter for the deprived in this society, I saw the dark side.”

Watch back in full here.

Previously: Dissolution

RollingNews

Meanwhile…

This morning.

Inner City Helping Homeless HQ, Amiens Street, Dublin 1.

Meanwhile…

…yesterday in Dail Eireann…

…Responding to Social Democrats housing spokesman Cian O’Callaghan who said there should be vetting and a national quality standards framework for all services and emergency accommodation for homeless people “and not just some providers as is currently the case”, Taoiseach Micheál Martin said:

“I do understand that legal processes are ongoing in relation to the future of the organisation.

“They [ICHH] operated outside the scope of mainstream homeless services provided by local authorities, who are subject to minimum standards and that’s an important point.

“There are a lot of accommodation providers and we have to be alert to new groups appearing overnight and that’s an ongoing issue.

“They did receive statutory funding from the local authority for their homeless services and I think that issue will be raised with the charity regulator.

“The issue you raised around the Garda vetting, I think the time has come to examine that issue.”

Taoiseach: Garda vetting should be looked at for agencies, volunteers in homeless services (Irish Times)

Yesterday: Dissolution

RollingNews

Dublin City Council councillor Christy Burke has stepped down as chairman of Inner City Helping Homeless

This morning/afternoon.

Further to the resignation last night of former Lord Mayor of Dublin Christy Burke as chairman of Inner City Helping Homeless, a role he took on following the death of Anthony Flynn.

…Via Breakingnews.ie:

…As only one board member remains from the original 15, the charity now faces two options according to sources. The appointment of a liquidator which could result in the winding up of the charity or else an inspector being legally charged by the Charities Regulator to examine the organisation.

A new board had been due to meet last Monday following the proposed appointment of Social Democrats TD Gary Gannon as its new chairman along with Clare O’Connor, a previous board member, and Gavin Elliot, a barrister, as two trustees.

An Emergency General Meeting (EGM) scheduled for last Tuesday was scheduled to take place but was postponed due to Mr Gannon, Ms O’Connor and Mr Elliot withdrawing from the nominations.

…Meanwhile, a woman is expected to be co-opted onto Dublin City Council next month to fill Mr Flynn’s seat

Anyone?

Christy Burke steps down as Inner City Helping Homeless chair (breakingnews.ie)

‘We believe more victims will now come forward’ – gardaí continue investigation into claims against late Anthony Flynn (Maeve Sheehan, Sunday Independent)

RollingNews

Last night.

Prime Time on RTÉ One.

Details were revealed of a document sent to members of Inner City Helping Homeless (ICCH) which details four serious allegations of abuse made against the former CEO and Dublin City Councillor, Anthony Flynn (above), who died in August.

Via RTÉ:

Written by David Hall, the former chairman of the charity, the document outlines a series of allegations of sexual abuse that were being investigated by Gardaí earlier this year.

The first two incidents occurred in May.

“One involved a 21-year-old male (classified by Gardai as extremely vulnerable) in May 2021 being brought by taxi at 2.30am to the CEO’s home where [he] stayed the night,” the report says.

“[He] presented to an adult emergency department the following day and was transferred to the sexual assault unit. [He] made an allegation to the Gardai when [he] arrived at the Sexual Assault Unit. The Gardaí believed the ICHH taxi account was used.”

Less than two weeks later, a separate alleged incident of a similar nature involving a different man was also reported to Gardaí.

“13 days later a party related to an ICHH Client was collected by taxi and brought to the CEO’s home. That night or the next morning an allegation was made to Gardai of sexual assault.”

A third alleged victim reported to the charity on August 26th that he had been sexually assaulted by Mr Flynn, though a date for the alleged attack is not given.

The man, who was homeless, had been “accommodated by the CEO in accommodation provided by ICHH,” the report states.

“While being accommodated by ICHH the CEO sent texts asking this person for sex. It was alleged the CEO sexually assaulted this person,” the report states. It was also alleged Mr Flynn “transferred a specific amount of money to this person to buy cocaine,” it said.

The document, which was obtained by Prime Time, also states that Gardaí told Mr Hall that its investigation went further again.

“Gardai indicated they had met with some men, who were known to Gardai, where taxis had collected them and Gardai were working through 97 taxi journeys. These journeys had been paid for by the charity.”

A total of four alleged survivors are referenced in the report.

Watch back here

Allegations made against former CEO of homeless charity (RTÉ)

Late charity chief allegedly assaulted men for whom he secured housing, report says (Irish Times)

Meanwhile…

Rollingnews

Meanwhile…

Anthony Flynn in 2017

Last night.

Anthony Flynn, who was under suspension from the homeless charity he co-founded, was found dead at his home in Dublin’s East Wall yesterday.

Mr Flynn, 35, helped set up Inner City Helping Homeless (ICHH) in 2013, becoming its chief executive in 2019, and was a serving independent councillor on Dublin City Council.

He was suspended by the charity following allegations of sexual misconduct, although, gardai say, he was not arrested or formally questioned.

Founder of homeless charity dies in tragic circumstances (Irish Examiner)

Councillor Anthony Flynn who died in suspected suicide was facing probe into alleged sex assault (Independent.ie)

RollingNews

This morning.

Anyone?

Dublin homelessness charity suspends employee after ‘serious matter’ (RTÉ)

This afternoon.

Inner City Helping Homeless writez:

Operation Easter Bunny is in full flow in the ICHH offices as we aim to give homeless children an Easter Egg over the coming week.

Mars Ireland donated 6,000 easter eggs through our partnership with Food Cloud which is a hugely kind donation that will bring a smile to many faces.

Do NOT tell Drew.

This afternoon.

Inner City Helping Homeless tweetz:

Thank you so much to Marilena Anghel [of Hope Creations] for her really kind donation of single-use soaps that she made and posted down to us from Cavan.

We really appreciate your kindness and support.

In fairness.

Hope Creations