Secretary General of the Department of the Environment Geraldine Tallon has told the Dáil’s public accounts committee she had no knowledge a contentious Siptu account had “dubious status”.
Almost €790,000 was paid into in the national health and local authority levy fund account from a local government body over the past decade, the committee heard.
“I had no knowledge it was an unofficial account or that this account might have dubious status,” Ms Tallon said. “We didn’t have any awareness of this as an unofficial Siptu account in the last 10 years.”
She said the Local Authority National Partnership Advisory Group, known as LANPAG, which is funded by the department, paid €790,000 into the Siptu account on foot of invoices in respect of costs associated with training trade union representatives between 1999 and 2009.
“While I have under review copies of the Siptu invoices and back up documentation in respect of the bulk of this money, LANPAG has written to Siptu in relation to provision of documentation in respect of €200,000.
“Further audit investigation may be necessary and, if so, will be undertaken in light of the outcome of these matters.”
In response to a question from committee chairman Bernard Allen of Fine Gael, Ms Tallon said no foreign travel was undertaken as a result of the €790,000.
Meanwhile, development levies worth €848 million remain uncollected by local authorities, Ms Tallon told the committee. She confirmed there were 3,850 vacant local authority housing units in the country and said she was not happy about the length of time that passed between tenancies in some cases.
