TWO GOVERNMENT departments have ordered internal audits into the involvement of their officials in foreign travel funded by a controversial training programme which is under Garda investigation.
A number of officials from the Department of Health and the Department of Finance and the Health Service Executive travelled to the US, Australia and Hong Kong as part of these trips.
This skills programme – funded by the HSE – was aimed at upskilling lower-ranking staff across the HSE in areas such as catering, housekeeping and portering.
However, an audit by the HSE of the training programme has revealed major concerns over the lack of accounting for this foreign travel.
The Department of Health’s secretary general Michael Scanlan has ordered a report on his department’s involvement in expenditure associated with the training programme.
In a statement, the department said a number of senior officials participated in “study visits to overseas healthcare systems.”
The report ordered by Mr Scanlan will seek to confirm the extent of these foreign trips, as well as the nature and length of them.
The secretary general of the Department of Finance, Kevin Cardiff, has also ordered an internal audit to ensure “appropriate oversight” was applied to the trips.
It said a mid-ranking official who has since retired availed of travel from the fund to the US and other locations over a number of years.
A department spokesman said the department only has a record of paying for subsistence and minor expenses.
The HSE has also confirmed that a number of officials also took part in foreign trips associated with the fund.
The HSE’s internal audit into the €60 million fund has focused most concern on payment of €2.3 million to Siptu which was not supported by adequate documentation.
Siptu insisted yesterday that it never received this money. However, it says an official in the union was the subject of an internal inquiry.
The provision of funding for the skills programme formed part of a recommendation of the Labour Court in 2003.
The Department of Health has been providing funding worth €12 million per annum towards the skills fund between 2004 and 2009 via the HSE.