TD compares Gaeltacht body's travel expenses to 'mini-Fás'

TRAVEL EXPENSES relating to Údarás na Gaeltachta outlined in media reports were “reading like a mini-Fás”, the Dáil’s Committee of Public Accounts heard yesterday.

Committee chairman Bernard Allen of Fine Gael said senior officials from the State agency for Gaeltacht development had travelled to destinations including Las Vegas, Shanghai, Los Angeles, Chicago and New York.

Mr Allen said the reason stated for the trip to Las Vegas was to meet IDA contacts. He also said he understood €30,000 had been spent on seven trips to Halifax in Canada “to look at seaweed projects”.

He asked the secretary general of the Department of Community, Equality and Gaeltacht Affairs Seosamh Ó hAghmaill, who was appearing before the committee, if the department took action when reports appeared in the public arena. “Did alarm bells ring in your department when these issues were raised?” He added: “It’s reading like a mini-Fás”.

Mr Ó hAghmaill said his department “certainly did” look for assurances that matters were in line with Department of Finance rules. Issues had been raised with the chief executive officer of Údarás na Gaeltachta, who gave assurances that all spending was “within rules”, Mr Ó hAghmaill added.

Mr Allen said Mr Ó hAghmaill should ask for a full report “on all of the issues”. Mr Ó hAghmaill said: “I’d be happy to do that.” Meanwhile, the committee heard three cases of fraud involving the misappropriation or misapplication of funds by staff in three community development projects had been reported to the department’s audit committee in 2009. The cases were outlined in the 2009 annual report of the Comptroller and Auditor General, which was discussed at the committee.

Mr Ó hAghmaill revealed that a number of potential cases had been identified this year, but they did not relate to community development projects. They had been picked up by a “whistleblower’s letter” in one case and a communication from a “concerned employee” in another.

Mr Ó hAghmaill was also questioned about decentralisation. He said the original plan was for the department to decentralise to Knock, Co Mayo, but An Bord Pleanála had overruled this. He said the Office of Public Works had bought a site close to Knock airport for €390,000 in 2007. He was not sure what the OPW might have in mind for the site now.

Separately, Mr Allen claimed the secretary general of the Department of Finance Kevin Cardiff had “failed” to provide promised documentation on the bank bailouts to the committee.

“We would just like to put down a marker as a committee that when we seek information here and get commitments . . . we will not be tolerating that sort of attitude to this committee’s work in future,” Mr Allen said.