Report into VEC shows financial irregularities and poor judgment

FINANCIAL irregularities, over staffing, poor judgment and a disregard for instructions from the Department of Education have been revealed in a new report by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) into Co Westmeath VEC.

It finds that in 1994 the VEC paid for 26 representatives to attend a conference in France which was supposed to be self financing but eventually ran up a deficit of £15,000.

It also finds that the committee acted ultra vires the VEC legislation in 1994 by signing a contract to buy a premises outside the jurisdiction. The premises was in France.

The report states that in 1993 the VEC contracted to buy property in Delvin for use as a Youthreach training centre, without the required approval of the Department. However, the premises turned out to have a set of petrol storage tanks under the floor and so were too expensive to convert. They are now being disposed of.

The report also details overpayments made to staff, travel expenses paid for journeys that were never made and the under estimation of liabilities.

The local Fine Gael TD, Mr Paul McGrath, has called on the VEC to resign. Accusing the committee of "a gross abuse and reckless spending of taxpayers money", he blamed its financial difficulties on an "abuse of a dominant position" by the Fianna Fail group on the previous committee.

Previous reports into the running of the VEC found that it had failed to adhere to principles of effective budgetary control and accused the Department of failing to control spending by the committee.

The latest report, an audit of the VEC's finances to the end of 1994, goes further. It says the revised deficit at the end of this period had risen to £740,000 in spite of special allocations from the Department of £625,000 over the previous two years.

The acting chief executive officer, Mr Jerry Cronin, who was appointed by the Minister for Education in 1995 after his predecessor, Mr Padraic Dunne, took early retirement, blamed the increase in the earlier period on a serious lack of financial control". He told the Comptroller that assets had been overstated and liabilities understated and additional liabilities had come to light during the audit.

In February, 1994, the VEC signed a contract to buy premises in Montbard, near the French town of Dijon tour days after the Department asked it to no further action. The report says VEC members raised with Mr Dunne whether it was appropriate to sign the contract but were assured that it was.

Also in 1994, the VEC organised a conference in Beaune, France, which was intended to be self financing. The VEC sent 26 people, a number the report says was way out of proportion" to that of other committees. The largest representation from any other VEC was four.

Even though all accommodation and food costs were paid, the VEC officers were also paid subsistence. None of these had obtained the required approval from the Department for overseas travel. According to Mr Cronin, the deficit on the conference was £15,000. Refunds were being sought from those who were overpaid.

The VEC also ran up unauthorised costs of about £250,000 in 1994 through the employment of at least 13 additional staff.

The report details several examples of overpayments made to one member of staff who had already received £16,700 in payments which were deemed "unfounded" in an earlier audit. This sum was repaid in 1993.

In April, 1992, overpayments of £3,350 were made to a number of administrative staff as a result of staff regrading. When the mistake came to light, all staff except this one officer repaid the amount immediately. The staff member in question is repaying the debt at the rate of £10 per week.

The same officer claimed £268 in travel and subsistence expenses for two journeys allegedly made in 1993. Although he subsequently told Mr Cronin that the journeys were never made and he could not understand why they had been claimed for, this money has not been repaid.

Mr Cronin told the CAG there appeared to be sufficient grounds to investigate possible invalid travel and subsistence claims.

Finally, the report questions Mr Dunne's action in paying himself one month's salary in lieu of his annual leave entitlement when he retired in May, 1995. Mr Cronin, who says the amount paid should have been based on the pro rata leave entitlement, says Mr Dunne has been asked to refund £1,077.