EU funds of up to €35m may have to be returned

A SIGNIFICANT portion of a €35 million globalisation fund to retrain redundant workers may have to be returned to the EU because of mismanagement of the scheme, the Dáil has heard.

The European globalisation adjustment fund provides financial assistance to EU member states to support and retrain redundant workers.

In the Dáil yesterday Sinn Féin finance spokesman Pearse Doherty claimed funding for up to 6,000 construction employees was in jeopardy because only workers named in the application “can avail of the funding” but “very few, if any at all of the named individuals were contacted” and it was not known if they were still in Ireland or had emigrated.

Minister for Education and Skills Ruairí Quinn acknowledged there was a problem with maladministration “by the previous administration”. He was “not sure what precisely we can do at this point in time but we have certainly missed one tide in regard to it and I hope we have not missed the whole tide”.

Mr Quinn apologised to the workers involved. “They have been victims of maladministration by the department under the previous administration. It is now our responsibility to try to clear it up. I do not know how much we can clear up,” he said.

There were also concerns about funding used for the retraining of former employees of Dell, SR Technics and Waterford Crystal. Mr Doherty suggested that a significant portion of the funding drawn down for the retraining of workers in those three companies would also have to be returned, because the money was not spent until the cheque arrived from the EU. Governments are obliged to use national funds for early intervention and then be refunded by Europe.

Mr Quinn agreed “it is not a satisfactory situation”. He was not sure what they could do or how much “we can clear up” but when he knew he would tell Mr Doherty.

The Donegal TD said “the applications and administration of these funds is a shambles”.

The previous government applied in June 2010 for €41 million from the EU globalisation fund to provide tailored retraining for 9,000 named construction workers made redundant between June 2009 and March 2010. He said money from the fund had to be used within 24 months of application. The European Commission approved €35 million to provide support for 5,987 workers.

“However final approval is not likely until the end of the year, leaving just six months before all the moneys must be spent,” Mr Doherty said. He added: “I have been reliably informed that a significant portion of this funding is now in jeopardy as a result of mismanagement of the programme.”

The named workers were not contacted and many might have emigrated. These were “early interventions” but workers would only be informed 17 months after the application for specific tailor-made programmes.

The Sinn Féin spokesman said he had been told that “none of these individuals has had their training needs assessed beyond the basic assessment provided by Fás for all redundant workers even though a more detailed assessment is required” for the globalisation fund.