MACRA na Feirme was ordered to pay back more than €100,000 to the taxman after the farming charity wrongly claimed government Covid-19 supports, the Mail on Sunday can reveal.
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Mail → order → Sunday
The organisation for young farmers was ordered to make a repayment, with interest, of €109,000 to the Revenue.
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organisation → order → Revenue
The registered charity’s tax compliance certificate was also temporarily suspended when it was unable to pay the amount promptly.
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it → register → amount
Details of the enforcement action taken by the Revenue Commissioners only came to light as a result of a dispute between Macra na Feirme’s chief executive and a now-departed financial manager, which has lasted years.
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which → take → years
Macra has an annual budget of more than €2.5million and is largely publicly funded.
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Macra → have → 2.5million
However, the charity – which has around 10,000 members across rural Ireland – was temporarily unable to draw down public funds due to the suspension of its tax compliance status.
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which → have → status
This came after it emerged Macra overclaimed payments under the State’s Temporary Wage Subsidy Scheme (TWSS), an initiative aimed to support any employer whose income dropped by more than 25 per cent during the Covid lockdowns.
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income → come → lockdowns
In 2020, Macra initially expected its finances to meet this benchmark, and on that basis a claim was made to support more than a dozen staff.
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claim → expect → staff
However, after three months it became clear to Macra that its forecast finances would be too positive to allow the TWSS claim.
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finances → become → claim
At this point, the claim was discontinued but Macra kept the €75,000 it had already received under the TWSS.
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it → discontinue → TWSS
Details of the enforcement action taken by the Revenue Commissioners only came to light as a result of a dispute between Macra na Feirme’s chief executive and a now-departed financial manager, which has lasted years
According to the accounts Macra ultimately filed for 2020, the charity suffered a seven per cent reduction in income in 2020 and posted a surplus of €133,000.
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charity → take → 133,000
This surplus included the €75,000 the charity received in TWSS payments.
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charity → include → payments
Macra’s TWSS claim did not attract Revenue attention until 2022 when a new financial manager, John Mac Cormaic, and a new CEO, Mick Curran, came to loggerheads over the issue.
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manager → attract → issue
And in July 2022 Mr Mac Cormaic disclosed concerns about the charity’s TWSS grants to Revenue.
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Cormaic → disclose → Revenue
In the weeks leading up to his disclosure, Mr Mac Cormaic had been instructed by Macra’s treasurer to examine the matter.
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Cormaic → lead → matter
However, Mr Mac Cormaic escalated the matter to Revenue late at night on the same day that Mr Curran informed him his probation period would not be extended.
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period → escalate → him
The disclosure prompted Revenue to act to recover its funds, with interest.
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disclosure → prompt → interest
This was done in agreed staged payments which concluded in March this year.
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which → do → March
After leaving Macra in 2022, Mr Mac Cormaic took a case to the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC), claiming he had been penalised under the Protected Disclosures Act.
Former Macra president with his successor Elaine Houlihan
THE Charities Regulator queried why tens of thousands of euro in invoiced payments to a former president of Macra na Feirme were not declared as a related party transaction.
Then-Macra president John Keane was paid the money in 2022 to allow him to fund replacement labour costs at his Co. Laois farm as he attended to his duties with the young farmers’ organisation.
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he → leave → organisation
The expense, amounting to more than €30,000 in 2022, was legitimate and Mr Keane committed no wrongdoing.
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Keane → amount → wrongdoing
However, to date there has been no way of seeing how much money Macra officials such as Mr Keane receive for farm replacement labour costs in any of the charity’s public accounts and annual reports.
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officials → see → accounts
Freedom of Information records show that, when asked by the regulator in July 2025 why the payments weren’t specifically declared as a related party transaction, Macra CEO Mick Curran replied: ‘This was an error on our behalf that will not be repeated.’
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that → show → behalf
Mr Curran later added that Macra had sought professional advice from its auditors about the labour replacement expenses.
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Macra → add → expenses
In response, the regulator warned: ‘It is a matter for the charity trustees to satisfy themselves that the charity is complying with all Revenue requirements and that the charity would not be exposed to any financial liability in relation to the arrangement that is currently in operation.’
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that → warn → operation
In his reply to the regulator, Mr Curran acknowledged: ‘There is no doubt but that everything within Macra was not carried out as it should be.
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it → acknowledge → Macra
With the assistance of the Charity Regulator, we find that we are constantly evolving and improving our processes.
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we → find → processes
But when the WRC case came to a hearing in April 2024, Mr Mac Cormaic asked for an adjournment with a day’s notice because he had begun a new job.
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he → come → job
The WRC rejected the request and ruled Mr Mac Cormaic’s complaint to be ‘vexatious and frivolous’ when he did not show up.
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he → reject → request
The matter would have rested there were it not for the actions of Macra’s CEO, who then made a complaint about Mr Mac Cormaic to Chartered Accountants Ireland (CAI).
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who → rest → Ireland
The complaint by Mr Curran was made in a personal capacity rather than on behalf of Macra and resulted in an investigation into Mr Mac Cormaic.
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complaint → make → Cormaic
That led to a public disciplinary hearing in April this year in which Mr Mac Cormaic was accused of making an unprompted voluntary disclosure to Revenue without internal authorisation by Macra.
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Cormaic → lead → Macra
He was further accused of failing to include further details in the disclosure, which the complaint alleged denied Macra potential concessions and protections.
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complaint → accuse → concessions
In the hearing, Mr Mac Cormaic said he had acted ethically, in good faith and in the public interest.
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he → say → interest
‘If I can’t follow the law as a chartered accountant, what is the point in me being a chartered accountant?’ he asked.
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he → follow → accountant
Mr Mac Cormaic alleged Macra had been ‘intransigent’ and believed it was ‘entitled’ to hold onto the TWSS funds instead of repaying the money.
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it → allege → money
‘The moral case is, we weren’t entitled – the organisation wasn’t entitled to it,’ he testified.
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he → entitle → it
‘I did my job.
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I → do → job
I highlighted an error, turned into a wrongdoing, turned into a significant interest, and it could have all been stopped if I was listened to.’
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I → highlight → interest
But Mr Curran told the hearing the disclosure to Revenue was ‘self-serving’ and ‘inappropriate’.
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disclosure → tell → Revenue
He said he believed Macra acted with integrity, in good faith and within the letter of the law.
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Macra → say → law
…and 5 more, not listed.
The Aporia
