A MARKETING group set up to sort out the "squabbling" between Aer Rianta and SFADCo at Shannon Airport overspent by £1 million, the Committee of Public Accounts heard yesterday.
The group, Shannon Airport Marketing, was established to boost traffic through the airport in October 1994 when the stopover ended. The Department of Transport, Energy and Communications approved a budget of £1.8 million but last December it received final invoices showing that £2.8 million had been spent on the promotion.
The comptroller and auditor general, Mr John Purcell, told the committee that as late as November 1995 the Department of Transport, Energy and Communications thought there would be an "underspend" on the budget and it was, to say the least, a "bit of a shock" to see an overrun of £985,000.
The bottom line, he said, was a large over expenditure by a body which proved to be ineffective and had a shelf life of one year. Marketing of Shannon Airport is now the full responsibility of Aer Rianta.
The Secretary of the Department, Mr John Loughrey, admitted that it should not have happened but it had and he accepted responsibility. "We believed the controls were adequate, but we were wrong." A serious breach had occurred, he said.
SAM was set up as a section within the Department of Transport, Energy and Communications and chaired by a chief executive on loan to the Department from SFADCo and four bother staff on loan from SFADCo and four from Aer Rianta Shannon. A steering group was established with representatives from the Department, SFADCo, Aer Rianta and the new body.
The Minister "hit the bullet" when he set up the group to sort out the "small turf warfare of who does what in Shannon" between SFADCo and Aer Rianta, said Mr Loughrey. There had been "institutional rivalry", he added.
The budgetary instructions issued could not have been clearer, any financial commitment over £50,000 was to be authorised by the Department, he said. In response to a question from committee chairman Mr Denis Foley (FF) Mr Loughrey said officials had been through every single invoice to see how the money was spent. "I can assure the committee that not 1p went astray in relation to the intent of the Minister," said Mr Loughrey.
This year's figures for Shannon Airport were expected to he at an all time high of 1.8 million passengers he said.
Mr Des O'Malley (PD) asked Mr Loughrey if he was aware that there was a substantial decrease in American tourists in the region. The Department secretary said that several "high rolling" tourists from Europe were coming into the region. "The aggregate figures are not only holding up but increasing," he said, adding that transatlantic figures were up 13 per cent on last year.
"But last year's were way down," responded Mr O'Malley.
Dr Pat Upton (Lab) said the rise in figures had to be examined in the context of the "whingeing that went on" in the mid west over the end of the stop over.
"Lo and behold when the change was made the results are improved,"he told the meeting.