Operation of SIPTU Fund raises issues of concern - PAC

Welcoming the publication of the Comptroller and Auditor General’s report on SIPTU National Health and Local Authority Levy Fund Account today, Monday, 29th April 2013, Deputy McGuinness said the report  will now be the subject of a detailed examination by the Committee.

Deputy McGuinness said that the Report confirms many of the issues that were examined previously by the Committee. The Report raises a number of concerns such as:

· Funding was allocated to a third party to manage a fund and yet there were no controls or reporting mechanisms to show how taxpayers’ money was used.

· Proper accounts were not maintained in respect of funding where there was net expenditure of €3.14 million between 1998 and 2010.

· Public Servants and union officials used this levy fund to bypass normal rules in relation to foreign travel and entertainment.

Deputy Mc Guinness stated that there were serious question marks over the value for money that was achieved by €3.15 worth of expenditure and that the Department of Health was negligent in the way it sanctioned these payments without putting certain stipulations in place as to what the funding could be used for.

“I would question whether it was necessary to spend €348,000 on marketing and promotions, €598,000 on travel and accommodation and €99,000 on entertainment and to make donations of €49,000 to charities,” he said.

“The entire report shows a degree of carelessness in the way public funds were handled. It is also clear that the fund was used for personal expenditure which was later recouped: for instance in respect of travel to Lanzarote. Credit card expenditure appears very high and the C&AG report found that €46,000 was paid to one restaurant and bar business between 2004 and 2009. The practice of writing cheques that were payable to cash makes it very difficult now to establish whether such payments were appropriate.

This report raises a lot of concerns as to how public moneys were handled. The Committee will examine this Report and place it with other information that has already come into our possession from the HSE Internal Audit Reports in order to get a better insight into the use that was made of this money, the personnel that were involved, so that there is an element of accountability for taxpayers’ money.

I will be seeking full cooperation from all parties who can help the Committee to get to the bottom of the issues that surround the use of this levy fund.”

For further information please contact:

Ciaran Brennan,
Houses of the Oireachtas,
Communications Unit,
Leinster House,
Dublin 2

P: +3531 618 3903
M: 086-0496518
F: +3531 618 4551
 
Committee of Public Accounts Membership
 
John McGuinness (Chairman)
Kieran O’Donnell (Vice Chairman)
Paul J Connaughton,
John Deasy,
Paschal Donohoe,
Gerald Nash,
Simon Harris,
Michael McCarthy,
Mary Lou McDonald,
Sean Fleming,
Eoghan Murphy,
Derek Nolan,
Shane Ross.