The trade union Siptu has said that it will repay some of the money involved in the controversy over the Skill training programme if any payments are found to have not been properly vouched.
In a statement, the union said that it had lodged a sum of €348,000 with a Commissioner for Oaths in good faith.
However the union again maintained that it had never sought or knew anything about €2.3 million paid over to a bank account, which was controlled by persons closely associated with Siptu, as part of a grant authorised by the Department of Health.
An audit by the HSE of the programme has found that fundamental elements of internal control were not in place and that there were serious shortcomings in relation to areas such as governance, funding and foreign travel arrangements.
It is to be considered by the Dáil Public Accounts Committee tomorrow.
As revealed in The Irish Times last June, the audit report specifically criticises the payment of grants, totalling over €2 million – funded by the Department of Health as part of the allocation to the Skill programme – to a bank account linked to individuals close to Siptu.
The union has said the account into which annual grants of €190,000 – €250,000 were paid was not one of its authorised accounts.
In a statement issued this evening, Siptu general president Jack O’Connor, vice president Patricia King and general secretary Joe O’Flynn, said the union “never sought any of the monies referred to” in the audit report.
“We never sought and never received the monies in question,” the statement said.
“We were never consulted with regard to these monies which were paid into an account which we never authorised or approved.
“This account was not in the control of the union. We obtained control of it in recent weeks in the context of the union’s internal inquiry into the matter.”
The union chiefs said Siptu never received an annual report on the account “or details of a single transaction conducted through it”.
“It was never audited by our internal or external auditors. We were never once queried by the HSE in relation to this account until we were contacted by its audit team in September 2009.”
In addition, no service-level agreement or contract was ever put in place by the HSE in respect of the payments, disbursements or audit of the monies in question.
“The union, therefore, has no liability in respect of the monies referred to,” the statement said.
“However, conscious of our role as a civil society organisation, we are endeavouring to assist in clarifying all the matters at issue. Moreover, we have informed the HSE that, without prejudice, any payments in respect of reimbursement of expenses which cannot be properly vouched will be repaid.”
The statement said that to this end, a sum of €348,000 as identified in the Comptroller and Auditor General’s report had been lodged with a commissioner for oaths “in good faith”.
“Our internal inquiry into this matter is continuing and efforts are being made to bring it to a conclusion as soon as possible. We will then be in a position to comment further.”
Two of the State’s largest public service trade unions said last month they would pay back nearly €240,000 which they received in “partnership funding” which was highlighted by the Comptroller and Auditor General and which was the subject of the special audit by the HSE.
Impact said it had repaid a total of €112,791.53 while the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) is to give back €127,491.60.