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TWO OF THE country’s political parties yesterday called for Garda Commissioner Nóirín O’Sullivan to step down.
It followed an unprecedented Dáil Public Accounts Committee (PAC) hearing in which a member of the Commissioner’s own senior staff openly contradicted statements she made. The PAC was grilling garda managers about serious irregularities in the accounts of the Garda College in Templemore.
Now O’Sullivan has been accused of attempting to mislead the committee – something she vehemently denied yesterday.
Though members of the committee yesterday expressed frustration at being “none the wiser” after five and a half hours of questioning, they did manage to somewhat clarify a number of important points.
What was wrong with the finances at the Templemore college?
An audit published this month revealed a number of irregularities – described this week by the Garda Commissioner as “unacceptable”.
These included:
Did the Commissioner have any oversight of the Garda College at the time of these irregularities?
In 2000, on promotion to the rank of superintendent, O’Sullivan spent a period of time in the Garda College in charge of specialist training.
From October 2008 to April 2009, she worked in human resources as Assistant Commissioner and the garda college did come within her area of responsibility as part of this role.
2008 is a key year in this debacle as a finance directorate report from that year noted worrying discrepancies.
When did the Commissioner first learn about these issues?
O’Sullivan told the committee this week that her office received a report with recommendations from her head of legal affairs on 28 July 2015. However, she added that she had been informed verbally of certain issues relating to the college’s finance by John Barrett, the executive director of HR on 27 July.
This is where it gets tricky. The Commissioner told the PAC this meeting was “brief” and happened while she and others were having tea in a reception area. Barrett remembers it differently and, in fact, has six pages of detailed notes from this meeting that indicate it lasted more than two hours.
He interjected during Thursday’s hearing to inform politicians of this, leaving them baffled and sparking concerns about the integrity of the Commissioner’s statements to the committee.
When did the Commissioner’s office inform the Minister for Justice?
“My recollection is that when the audit report was completed, it was sent to the Minister as a draft interim report around September 2016,” O’Sullivan told the PAC on Thursday.
The Commissioner said her legal adviser back in July 2015 gave her advice that this may warrant a report to the minister under current legislation. However, she said she felt at the time that the organisation ”did not have sufficient information”.
“We put together an immediate group, comprising representatives of the Department of Justice and Equality, to get to the bottom of the matter.”
What do we know about this company, Sportsfield Co?
This company was established in 1983 and the head of audit for An Garda Síochána, Niall Kelly, said it appears to have been set up to develop sports facilities at the college.
Joe Nugent, chief administrative officer, told the PAC he had spoken to the the directors of the company and they were “not aware of their obligations” in relation to its finances.
“Across my time in the public service I have certainly seen circumstances where individuals have become directors as a result of taking positions in an organisation,” he explained.
“In this case, that would appear to have led people to believe certain things about how they should fulfil their requirements. Clearly, it is not correct.”
He said the intention now is that this company “will be taken off the stage”.
What about the €100,000 that was transferred into the Garda Boat Club?
Over a number of years, some €100,000 was transferred from Sportsfield Co to the boat club, which is run by current and former members of the force and their families. Kelly informed the committee that as this club is “completely separate” to An Garda Síochána, it does not have a remit to audit it.
He confirmed that this money came from surpluses made in the college’s restaurant which had been transferred to Sportsfield.
“It was not just the Garda Boat Club. There were many other sporting clubs that also benefitted from the transfer of funds from this fund in the college,” Deputy Commissioner Dónal Ó Cualáin informed the PAC.
Do we need a criminal investigation?
TD Alan Farrell expressed concern that €100,000 of public money was moved to a private organisation. He suggested this could be described as “embezzlement”.
“In order to be able to establish whether or not there is a suspicion of something illegal happening, we have to have all of the materials available to consider,” the Commissioner told committee members.
I have asked the people who have conducted the audit to date if there is anyone in the line management stream – all the way from the chief administrative officer, Mr Barrett, all the way down, or Mr. Kelly, who conducted the audit report – who has reasonable grounds to suspect that a crime has been committed at this point. I have been informed that there are no such grounds.
When asked, Barrett said it was “too early to say on several fronts”.
Kelly said: “Have I uncovered illegal practices, no, but in regard to Deputy Cullinane’s opening remarks regarding maladministration, yes, and failures to implement recommendations of previous reports, yes.”
Assistant Commissioner John O’Driscoll is now conducting a fact-finding investigation to establish whether a criminal inquiry is required.
Why is all of this only coming out now?
The interim audit published recently found concerns were first expressed about the finances in the Garda College in an unfinished audit report conducted by the Garda Internal Audit Section (GIAS) all the way back in 2006.
Discrepancies were also noted by the Finance Directorate in a 2008 report. This report was was not, however, sent to GIAS or brought to the attention of the Garda Audit Committee.
Kelly told the committee that he was “asking questions in 2008 and 2009 but I was not getting answers”.
“In March 2011, in relation to the 2010 accounts, I got assurances that issues were being addressed”
At this time, Kelly had forwarded a draft report to then Commissioner Martin Callinan in which he noted concerns about the college’s accounts. He claims he was given assurances at the time that these issues would be addressed and, believing they would be, he removed this paragraph from the final version of his report.
In hindsight, I would say that, probably, I should not have taken the assurances that were provided to me. I brought this issue to the highest level.
“What happened in 2011 was that effectively the college closed and there was very little activity,” Kelly explained.
Between 2011 and 2014, if I had gone to audit I probably would not have found anything because effectively we were doing nothing. In 2014-2015 these issues starting arising again. In 2016, we were brought in to do the audit.
This recent audit was conducted following issues flagged by Barrett in 2015. He had asked for midyear numbers in the college relating to overtime and noticed some numbers “did not make a lot of sense”.
“On foot of that I became aware of the 2008 report of the finance directorate and I read it. My response at that point in time was to call the then chief administrative officer and discuss it with him.
“Then we became aware of a 2010 report following on from the 2008 report and we sat and discussed that. That was the tail end of June 2015. Mr. Dunne asked me to write a summary report at that point, a synopsis of the issues arising in both reports. That is what I did and that is the document of 6 July 2015.”
He told the committee “this thing was visible for a period long before my becoming aware of it.”
Though there is now a clearer timeline of who knew what and when, garda managers were unable to tell committee members why a number of key decisions were made – like the decision not to provide Kelly, the head of audit, with financial information he requested as far back at 2008.
So, what happens next?
The committee was told yesterday that it is hoped further clarity on these issues can be provided in the coming weeks – particularly in relation to potential criminality. Management has promised to hand over a huge amount of documentation to the PAC and will be back for questioning in July.
But with two of the country’s main political parties now calling for the Commissioner’s resignation, a lot could change before then.
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The “charity begins at home” brigade are out in force. Charity doesn’t begin at home, it begins with whoever is the worst off.
Well said Neal Ireland. These people are so much worse off than those needing help here in Ireland. In the grand scheme of things €1.9 million isn’t huge money here but will make a huge difference in places like Sudan.
The original meaning of “Charity begins at home” has unfortunately been lost…
Spending the money in Ireland. Stop taking medical cards from the needy, reduce the closure of the Rape Crisis Centres, fund the necessary community organisations and get the homeless off the Street. There you go well spent and went a long way to providing the necessary. It’s good to be seen given Foreign Aid while our little country perishes at the hands of idiot Governments.
Do you honestly think that if we didn’t send this money to Sudan that even one penny of it would go towards any of the things you listed? How anybody can begrudge this vital support is beyond me.
Perishes? Overdramatic.
What about spending the money on our homeless people instead of giving it to other countries
What about spending money on teaching punctuation to sinn féinners ?
A psychologist friend of mine suggested that Patrick has a small manhood, hence his behaviour. The Popeye sailor man would also suggest his attraction to sailors and his fear to come out of the closet.
That’s correct. I read an article before that forum trolls either have tiny johnsons or can’t get them up for very long. The frustration leads them to lash out online in anger at the world. Great to study however.
While we’re being pedantic about punctuation, there’s no space between a word and a question mark. Practice what you preach.
Debbie, there should not, there was not but there is. Why? I do not know.
corrupt government will prob take 3.9 million of that
Mathematics and mé féiners do not seem to mix.
Apologies Patrick, I meant 1.9 million.
Its not direct government aid so hopefully the government of South Sudan won’t be able to get their hands on it because NGO’s such as the red cross do lifesaving work in these places. For those that say charity starts at home it doesn’t, charity is for those who need it most. It shouldn’t just be Ireland looking after the Irish it should be everyone helping the less fortunate/needy. Take for example the article during the week about the Irish funded heart surgery team sent to the Ukraine providing vital lifesaving operations for children. That article was well received without anyone suggesting the money should be used at home so what’s the difference here? The aid here is needed more urgently also. (I’m aware that the surgical team were funded through a charitable organization but one which, no doubt, receives a grant from the government)
We should all give we will never have to look out our window and see that devastation were talking roughly the population of Ireland on the brink of starvation here get a grip and donate.
We had our own famines and we still love to cry about it. We are different to other peoples, sure everybody loves the Irish Olé Olé Olé. Let other starving people bugger off. Do they not realise the price of a pint in Ireland?
The NGOs who get this money will spend the bulk of it on air conditioned cars, air conditioned rooms and the same food they get at home so that they live like they’re at home. Unfortunately this is a waste of money.
Wonder where all the oil money is going
Throw it in the Liffey be better off them government will get there greedy MIT’s on it and that will be it . money never gets to them . that’s why the problem will never ever get sorted.
I am in no way opposed to Ugandan’s receiving aid and I know the situation is dire over there but why is our government so quick to send money overseas and not think about using that money for our own homeless people. I just don’t get it. In Brazil the poor and needy are getting beaten off the streets so travelling football fans don’t have to see them. Does the media care about that? But luckily they’ve got Bill Gates over there to vaccinate everyone in the middle of another US proxy war.
Media very select in its reporting
The government are signed up to give millions to Africa every year. Something in the region of 236 million I think.
I notice there’s a general trend in being pro-aid and against those who would rather keep that money here but if you look at how aid is administered by Aid organisations in third world countries then you would see that the money is never used effectively, however that 2 million could change a lot if used properly in our black spots within out capital and across Ireland. Hence charity does start at home if the resources are best utilised here
50 cent each …sound :-)
Is there any country in Africa with a stable government…Christ!!!
*facepalm*
5 cent each…. sound :-)
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