THE CHAIRMAN of the Dáil Public Accounts Committee has said that senior civil and public servants involved in the controversies surrounding the Skill training programme and the health service partnership forum have “done the State a disservice”.
Speaking at a resumed hearing into the issues yesterday, Bernard Allen also said that the Department of Finance was entitled to feel let down by the actions of one of its former officials, who took part in 16 foreign trips.
The committee is investigating allegations that a number of senior officials of the Department of Health, the Department of Finance and the Health Service Executive took part in numerous foreign trips which were financed from funding allocated from various State sources to the trade union Siptu.
More than €4 million was paid into a bank account, known as the Siptu National Health and Local Authority Levy Fund, which was controlled by a senior official of the union, Matt Merrigan, and another voluntary representative, Jack Kelly.
Siptu headquarters has said that it knew nothing about this bank account.
More than €2 million paid into the account came from an annual grant, sanctioned by the Department of Health, to Siptu which was top-sliced from official funding made available for the Skill programme to train lower-paid staff in the health service.
Mr Allen asked: “How did officials not know that going on junkets paid for by trade union officials with whom they would have to negotiate was wrong.”
Secretary general of the Department of Health Michael Scanlan and HSE chief executive Cathal Magee said it was inappropriate for their officials to have taken part in overseas visits organised and paid for by trade union officials.
However, Mr Scanlan said that there was no impropriety or irregularity involved on the part of individual officials in relation to either the sanctioning of the funding to Siptu or the study visits that were undertaken.
Mr Magee said that there had been “a systemic failure to adhere to the financial, travel and procurement regulations of the HSE in relation to both the operation of the Skill programme and the HSE national partnership programme”.
Mr Scanlan said his understanding was that the trips were organised by a Siptu official and that flight and accommodation costs were met from the Siptu National Health and Local Authority Levy Fund account.
Questioned by Róisín Shortall of the Labour Party, Mr Scanlan said that he had personally authorised some of the foreign trips undertaken by his officials.
Mr Scanlan: “I would have signed off and approved a number of trips.”
Ms Shortall: “Did it ever occur to you that this may not have been appropriate – or that there was a conflict involved?”
Mr Scanlan: “To be honest, the answer is no.”
He said that he had had a level of awareness that the trips were being organised by Siptu. However, he said that he was not aware how the account in question was being financed or how the trips were being funded.
Mr Scanlan confirmed that four Department of Health officials who had sanctioned payments to Siptu had travelled on trips organised by a union official.
Department of Finance assistant secretary David Moloney said that it did not consider it appropriate for one of its officials to have travelled on trips paid for by a trade union official.
He said that at no stage did the official’s supervisors know that the money was coming from Siptu or a Siptu official. He said that the assumption was they were HSE-funded trips.
SKILLS TRIPS BY YEAR
2002Two trips to New York (one of which may not have happened)
2003Two trips: Canada and New York (one of which may not have happened)
2004Two trips: New York and Minnesota
2005Six trips: New York (2), Australia, via US (1) UK (3)
2006Six trips: New York (2), UK (4)
2007Seven trips: New York (2), Los Angeles (1), Boston (1), UK (3)
2008Nine trips: New York (1), Savannah (1), Australia (1), UK (5) Brussels (1)
2009Six trips: New York (3), UK (3)
