MINISTER FOR Finance Brian Lenihan has said he wants money not properly spent under the controversial Skill training programme, along with any funds still outstanding, to be returned to the exchequer.
In a letter to the Dáil Public Accounts Committee, he said he shared its concern over the manner in which public funds were accounted for in the Skill programme and, in particular, the money paid into a bank account known as the Siptu national health and local authority levy fund.
It has emerged on foot of a series of investigations in recent months that about €4 million from various State bodies was paid into this bank account, which was controlled by a senior Siptu official. Siptu has said it knew nothing about the account and only took control of it in August.
About €2.3 million paid into the account came from an annual grant channelled by the Department of Health through the Skill programme operated by the Heatlt Service Executive.
About €340,000 related to expenses paid to a Siptu union official, which the HSE contends were not properly vouched for, while nearly €800,000 was paid into the account by a partnership body in the local authority area. Additional money was also paid into the account from a health service partnership body.
The HSE has said some of the money paid into the account was used to finance a number of controversial foreign trips by senior trade union officials, civil servants, health service staff and others.
Official investigations by the HSE and Comptroller and Auditor General have also uncovered serious irregularities in the management of the Skill training programme itself.
In a letter to the Public Accounts Committee, dated October 29th, but published on its website earlier this week, the Minister said there was “serious public concern in relation to the management of the Skill expenditure”.
“I would be concerned that all reasonable steps are taken to ensure that public funds are not wasted and that steps are taken, where appropriate, to recover monies not properly spent and that such funds together with unspent funds are returned to the exchequer,” the Minister stated.
The Public Accounts Committee last month asked the Minister to ensure a freeze was placed on the fund and that all public money in it was returned to the exchequer on the completion of the various investigations.
Mr Lenihan said the annual grant paid into the account had been suspended and that HSE chief executive Cathal Magee had asked for the expenses paid into the account to be reimbursed.
Siptu president Jack O’Connor has said all public funds remaining in the account will be handed over to the exchequer.
He also said the union would “find a way of addressing” the issue of more than €340,000 in expenses reimbursed by the HSE to a union official if it was found they had not been properly vouched for.
Mr O’Connor has declined to say how much remains in the account on the basis that this information is privileged until the outcome of an inquiry carried out by Siptu’s trustees is known.