'Misappropriation' of €1.5m at Basketball Ireland investigated

GARDAÍ ARE investigating the “misappropriation” of up to €1.5 million in grants at Basketball Ireland, the Public Accounts Committee was told yesterday.

The funds were part of €1.8 million given to the national governing body for basketball by the Department of Tourism, Culture and Sport.

The money was to be used for the Community Hoops Programme to install outdoor hoops in parks, playgrounds, schools and estates across Ireland. But a large proportion of the funds provided between 1999 and 2006 were not used for that purpose, Comptroller and Auditor General John Buckley told the committee. Over 1,700 units should have been purchased, but only 345 were, at a cost of €255,000.

Tom O’Mahony, secretary general of the department, said this was not a question of the funds being “misappropriated for personal use”, but they were not used for the purposes intended. The department’s own audit committee was carrying out an investigation into the matter, he said. Its report would be completed in three weeks’ time.

Mr O’Mahony said in the past, the department accepted invoices as evidence of purchase before paying out grants.

“We would not have expected that invoices would be submitted on an incorrect basis,” he said. He told the committee the case had been referred to the Garda for investigation.

Asked by Paschal Donohoe (FG) if any sanction had been applied to Basketball Ireland, he said a €500,000 grant due to be paid to it had been “frozen”. There were no other sanctions “at this stage”.

The committee also heard the National Aquatic Centre, part of the planned National Sports Campus in Dublin, receives an annual subsidy of about €1 million.

Donagh Morgan, assistant secretary general with responsibility for sport, said when the centre was in planning, consultants PricewaterhouseCoopers advised it would be profitable.

But since then, the centre had been benchmarked against similar facilities in Europe and they all required a small subsidy.

Committee chairman John McGuinness said the consultants had told them they’d make up to €2.1 million. “How much did you pay this company to look into the plan?” he asked.

Mr Morgan said he could not say because the consultants had been part of an “executive team” gathered to provide financial, legal, design and management services for the National Sports Campus project. For the first two years of the project the team had been paid €127,000 a month, he said.

Mr O’Mahony was also questioned about an out-of-court settlement paid to an under-bidder for the aquatic centre contract.

Dublin International Arena Ltd had taken proceedings against the State over the awarding of the contract in 2000 to a consortium including Dublin Waterworld Ltd.

Mr O’Mahony said he could not reveal how much was paid in the settlement as a confidentiality clause had been agreed in 2009.