Tommy Morris spoke to JOE on Thursday about his efforts to expose the wrongdoings of former Console CEO Paul Kelly.
Morris, who has worked with the HSE in social care for two decades and also acted as a special adviser and parliamentary assistant in Leinster House, told JOE that Kelly clearly lied about the date of his sister's Sharon death by suicide during a
Sunday Business Post profile piece.
According to Kelly, his sister Sharon died in 2001, prompting him to set up Console.
In fact, she passed away in 1995.
Kelly had always claimed that his sister Sharon's death by suicide took place in 2001 and that it was that tragic event that prompted him to start Console, where he would spend spend up to
€1m in charity donations to fund his family's extravagant lifestyle.
"He ran out of the country in the mid-90s when he was being pursued by Revenue. He came back in 2001," Morris, who worked closely with Prime Time over five years to see Kelly's wrongdoing exposed, revealed.
"His sister died in October 1995.
"I didn't know Sharon all that well, but we were acquainted. She had been in hospital quite a few times, which was tragic. But what shocked me was that Paul Kelly cashed in on that and always told the story that he was able to set up this organisation because he felt he'd failed his sister, who had died suddenly from suicide, and that it was a complete shock to him and his parents.
"That was an absolute lie, and I knew it was a lie then."
Morris explained that he knew Kelly from a shared childhood in Dublin, and that he had run into him on various occasions through the years.
Pic: Tommy Morris
"I grew up in Ballyfermot and knew Paul Kelly through the local youth club, and the area," he said.
"I knew from a long time back that he was very clearly on a mission to set himself up. There was something that created curiosity, but there was also something that your intuitiveness told you was odd, dodgy about him, I knew that all along.
"Over the years I came across him a number of times through my work. He was setting himself up as a priest when he wasn't, as psychologist when he wasn't, as a doctor in 1983 when he falsified in an interview that he was a qualified medical doctor. He worked in Baggot Street hospital for three and a half or four weeks and he impersonated another doctor of the same name.
"On one occasion I met him on Grafton Street and he was dressed as an Aer Lingus airline pilot, a captain, and on another occasion he founded San Damiano services in Inchicore and I believe that was the forerunner for Console."
Morris has recently spoken to many of the people
badly affected by the closure of Console and Kelly's deception, including renowned chef Derry Clarke, the proprietor of L'Ecrivain, who has campaigned tirelessly against suicide since the death of his son Andrew in December 2012.
"I was talking to Derry Clarke recently and he told how he'd raised over €300,000," Morris explained.
"He put a lot into trying to ensure that nobody would have the same experience he had. He set about doing things so that his son's death would not be in vain, and he would try and contribute. He met with Kelly who talked to him about this service and that service, and he wanted to expand this and that.
"At the same time it's estimated that Kelly has the guts of €2m from the state, and yet during that time he threatened to cut the phone lines on the basis that he wasn't getting enough money from the state.
"He reduced the phone lines from six lines to two lines at Console, for a period of time, as part of a bargaining chip with the Department of Health."
Morris concluded by saying that it was the fear of legal action by Paul Kelly that prevented them from speaking out sooner, and that he was pleased to see Pieta House step into the breach following the collapse of Console.
"I know of people who knew about it, but they said they weren't getting involved," he said.
"I spoke to people in the Department of Health. I spoke to people in my own profession. I notified other charities about Kelly's antics. People were aware of it, but we're in a very fearful society where people are afraid to be sued. I was afraid to come out myself but that's why I worked with Prime Time for almost five years.
"At this stage I can't do any more. I was dreading the idea that Console would collapse and there would be no service.
"I'm delighted that Pieta House is taking over; I worked behind the scenes and I think David Hall is doing a tremendous job with Console. I've met him a few times.
"I've called out to Console to meet the staff, to empathise with them and to be with them. This exposé was no reflection on them or their work, but on this 100% chancer, a Bonnie and Clyde version.
"People would often meet me and say there was something not right about this guy, about Console, and there was a smoking gun. Thank God the government have put in place a proper service now through Pieta House and I'm absolutely sure it will all be OK."
