The voluntary directors and supervisors of the Irish League of Credit Unions (ILCU) have claimed expenses of 231,641 for 2002. The 21 directors and supervisors claimed a combination of travel, subsistence, phone and per diem expenses. ILCU president, Mr John O'Regan, claimed the highest level of expenses at €23,771.

Three others also claimed expenses in excess of 20,000: Ms Carmel Dowling (22,650); Mr Gerry Foley (20,172); and Mr Jim McMahon (€22,059). The expenses did not include the costs of flights or the costs of spouses or partners travelling.

A spokesman for the ILCU defended the figures yesterday. He said the people involved were volunteers who gave up a lot of their time to attend meetings around the country. He said 2002 was a difficult year for ILCU because of the fallout from the ISIS computer project which cost the organisation €34 million.

He said directors had to attend board meetings, regional meetings and meetings with the 25 local credit union chapters and expenses were incurred because of this level of activity. He said the rates paid to directors and supervisors were comparable to civil service rates.

The ILCU faced controversy throughout 2002 because of continuing fallout from the disastrous ISIS project, where € 34 million was wasted on a failed attempt to develop a technology system to link member credit unions.

In his president's statement in the annual report, Mr John O'Regan says: "The unsuccessful ISIS project created a sense of disillusionment, which has cast a long shadow over our movement. In this instance, the work of the league in pursuit of its objects was unsuccessful in a number of respects, of which the financial loss is but one, albeit a most significant one."

According to the annual reports and accounts for 2002, funding of €4.05 million was provided by the general fund of ILCU to ILCUTECH (the company responsible for the ISIS project) in 2002. A further 1.67 million, says the accounts, will be provided to ILCUTECH.

Also a € 6.98 million loan, used to initially fund the computer system, has been guaranteed by the general fund of the ILCU. Three motions have been put down for the organisation's biennial conference later this month urging the organisation to write off its investment in the ISIS project. A motion from An Post employees' credit union says all money spent on the development of the ISIS project "should now be written off and no further money should be put at risk in an attempt to recover any part of it from OSI".

Another motion from the same group says ILCUTECH "should now be put into liquidation and wound up" with any expense to be borne by the ILCU.