Grant Payments

Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 28 June 2016

Tuesday, 28 June 2016

Questions (536, 537, 538, 539, 540)

Clare Daly

Question:

536. Deputy Clare Daly asked the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation to correct her Department’s claim in paragraph three of correspondence dated 20 February 2004 (details supplied) that the release of the approved grant was requested on 14 July 1997, whereas in fact that payment application had been withdrawn on 16 July 1997 and resubmitted on 11 September 1997 after her Department had checked and approved the unpaid invoices which, nevertheless, were later reported to the Director of Public Prosecutions as fraudulent solely by virtue of being unpaid. [17960/16]

Clare Daly

Question:

537. Deputy Clare Daly asked the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation if, in its formal statement to the fraud squad dated 26 April 1999, her Department fully informed An Garda Síochána that there was no prohibition on non-Government organisations using unpaid invoices to claim grant payments and that her Department had in August 1997 checked and approved the three unpaid invoices before the payment application was received and acted on (details supplied). [17961/16]

Clare Daly

Question:

538. Deputy Clare Daly asked the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation why correspondence (details supplied) to her Department dated 29 January 1999 from a non-government organisation, which for the first time specifically questioned the validity of using unpaid invoices to claim European Union and European Social Fund grants and was the basis of the subsequent complaint to the fraud squad, remains unanswered. [17962/16]

Clare Daly

Question:

539. Deputy Clare Daly asked the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation if her Department’s assertion that the application for payment had been made before it had seen the invoices, an assertion which is inaccurate, was the product of its six week internal investigation that it had agreed upon with a person (details supplied) in order to establish the facts. [17963/16]

Clare Daly

Question:

540. Deputy Clare Daly asked the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation to take note of the communications from persons (details supplied) and identify any ministerial response or parliamentary reply which specifically disclosed the truth, namely that there was no prohibition on the use of unpaid invoices by non-Government organisations to claim payment of European Union and European Social Fund grants. [17964/16]

Written answers

Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation

I propose to take Questions Nos. 536 to 540, inclusive, together.

My Department, and previous Ministers, have been in receipt of correspondence from the individual concerned over many years in relation to the issues raised by the Deputy in her Questions. There have been a number of Departments and statutorily independent Offices involved in considering different aspects of the issues raised and insofar as my Department is concerned a complaint was lodged several years ago with the Ombudsman’s Office in relation to how my Department had handled the matter. The Ombudsman’s Office decided to close their file in this case without any adverse findings issuing against the Department. My Department has also repeatedly responded to Freedom of Information requests related to the questions raised and provided information to the individual concerned. The Information Commissioner, along with the Ombudsman, accepted after a lengthy and comprehensive investigation that my Department had acted appropriately with the individual concerned.

Insofar as European Social Fund Programmes from a decade and more ago are concerned, these have been deemed "closed" for some time by the European Authorities with all payments due from the EU Commission to Ireland fully reconciled.

I am further informed that An Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality, Francis Fitzgerald T.D., has decided to establish an inquiry under the terms of section 42 of the Garda Síochána Act 2005 into Garda actions in respect of allegations made against the person referred to by the Deputy. Accordingly, any specific queries on that inquiry might be raised directly with my colleague.