Grants to Mitchell constituency are criticised by TDs

THE Department of the Taoiseach paid out almost £1 million in grants to local development groups, without analysing the projects or ensuring that tax clearance procedures had been adhered to, a Dail committee has heard.

Members of the Committee of Public Accounts yesterday queried why 19 out of the 22 grants awarded in Dublin last year went to the city's southside. The largest single grant, for £70,000, went to a project in Dublin south-central, the constituency of the Minister of State in the department, Mr Gay Mitchell.

The secretary of the Department of the Taoiseach, Mr Paddy Teahon, denied a claim by Mr John Ellis, Fianna Fail, that Mr Mitchell had effectively run the scheme on his own.

Mr Tommy Broughan of Labour said that if Mr Mitchell were still chairman of the committee, he would be "hopping mad" about the way this money was spent.

"He'd be out there on the plinth telling the media he was outraged by this report."

Mr Mitchell last night said the south city had done worse than other areas in the disbursement of other local development funds. Projects in Dublin South Central accounted for 21 per cent of allocations under the scheme in 1995, and 6 per cent in 1996.

The Comptroller and Auditors General, Mr John Purcell, had earlier told the committee that after the scheme of once-off grants in support of local development was introduced in 1995, an audit revealed breaches of procedure.

The Department told his office that checks on projects were carried out mainly by telephone.

No tax details were obtained before payments were made, and grants were paid to a number of projects for work which did not begin until 1996.

This contravened the approach agreed with the Department of Finance on payment schedules.

Mr Teahon said time constraints and the volume of applications had forced the department to operate by telephone.