Vol. 544 No. 5
66 Mr. Broughan asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment if she has satisfied herself that no further audit of an EU and Government funded project (details supplied) in Dublin 5 is necessary. [29388/01]
Under Article 38 of the EU Council Regulation 1260/1999 (the General Structural Funds Regulation), organisations in receipt of EU funds are required to retain all relevant documentation for a period of three years following receipt of final payment from the Commission. This is required to facili tate any audits or control visits which are deemed necessary by the managing authority for the ESF community initiatives, the ESF financial control unit or the European Commission within that period.
Accordingly, it is not possible at this stage to state definitively that no further audits will be necessary in respect of the EMPLOYMENT community initiative, Youthstart, project or any other project in receipt of ESF funding over the same period.
An audit of the Youthstart project was commissioned by my Department in October 2000. As a result of that audit, certain issues arose which required clarification and are the subject of ongoing discussions between my Department and the resource centre.
