Fine Gael wants Ireland's Charities Regulator summoned over Sinn Féin TD-chaired Liberty Recycling amid a money laundering probe

Fine Gael TD James Geoghegan has written to Public Accounts Committee chair John Brady calling for the Charities Regulator and the Department of Social Protection to face scrutiny over Liberty Recycling, a charity that drew more than €2 million in public funds. Gardaí raided the charity's premises last week and the High Court appointed provisional liquidators, leaving around 100 trainees and staff in an uncertain position. The charity is under investigation for alleged ties to Dublin and African criminal gangs suspected of money laundering.

The Charities Regulator has drawn criticism for concluding that trustees 'remained fully supportive of senior employees' rather than moving to suspend them while the probe was under way.

Fine Gael members are thought to share a broader frustration that the oversight shortcomings laid bare during last year's Peter McVerry Trust hearings were apparently never addressed.