Education board's failure on procedures 'regretted'

PUBLIC ACCOUNTS COMMITTEE:THE FAILURE of procedures which led to the loss of €700,000 by the State body responsible for school attendance was described as "matter of great regret" by its chief executive at the Dáil's public accounts committee yesterday.

A report by the Comptroller and Auditor General into the National Education and Welfare Board last November found that lapses "were exploited by a member of staff, apparently in collaboration with a supplier".

As a result the board paid out almost €700,000 which included: information technology (IT) equipment costing almost €200,000 which was excess of the organisation's needs; payment for IT services not provided at an estimated cost of €270,000; professional fees of €228,000 in investigating the matter.

The board's chief executive Eddie Ward told the committee that "robust" procedures were now in place to "prevent and detect irregularities that might occur".

The irregularities came to light because of a missing e-mail sent by the finance manager to the chief executive. The subsequent investigations found e-mails between the IT manager and the supplier showing an "inappropriate relationship" and "collusion in determining the price of goods", the report found.

"How long this could have gone on for if it had not been for the e-mail investigation?" committee chairman Bernard Allen asked the Mr Ward yesterday. "God knows when it would have been picked up," Mr Ward said. You would not pick up collusion from looking at the accounts, he added.

The former IT manager had approved cheques of up to €162,000 despite a policy that payments over €10,000 had to be approved by the chief executive, the report found.

Fianna Fáil TD Seán Fleming asked why the bank mandate broke down. Mr Ward explained that the bank was not aware of the internal threshold limits the organisation had.

Fianna Fáil deputy Darragh O'Brien asked why a cheque for over €160,000 was not picked up. Collusion can be difficult to detect, Mr Ward said, adding that there were failures in controls which people with a motivation used to their advantage.

Members also questioned the chief executive about an unauthorised merit payment of more than €19,000 to the former IT manager.

Labour TD Róisín Shortall asked why the money had not been repaid, even though the IT manager had agreed to pay back the money after an investigation.

The time and manner had not been agreed with the IT manager and it was then "overtaken by events", Mr Ward said. The merit payment had been approved by the director of corporate services who has since resigned, he added.

Ms Shortall also asked why the IT manager had subsequently been "promoted" to strategic planning manager. Mr Ward explained that this was a temporary move, did not result in an increase in salary and at that point he did not think he had done anything wrong.

The committee said it was not finished with the matter. A court case taken by the board against the former employee and former IT supplier is pending.