SIPTU PRESIDENT Jack O’Connor has said the union’s decision to set aside €348,000 to cover any unvouched expenses relating to the controversial Skills programme has been interpreted as an admission of liability.
Mr O’Connor said because of this the union would have to find another way to address the matter when an internal inquiry into the circumstances surrounding the bank account – registered in its name but operated by a senior union official – was complete.
Siptu this week lodged €348,000 with a commissioner of oaths, saying it would pay back the money if payments to the account were not properly vouched.
Siptu general secretary Joe O’Flynn last night said the account – the Siptu national health and local authority levy fund, in which State sources lodged some €4 million – was not approved, operated by or in the control of the union. He said Siptu head office had now obtained control of the fund.
Mr O’Flynn said the union had “no legal liability whatsoever in this matter” and no court “would hold anyone liable to account for money they never received”.
He said the union was not yet in a position to respond to allegations that the money was used for purposes such as overseas trips, meals and taxis.
The money relates to a HSE skills training programme established to upskill and assist lower-grade workers in the health service. More than €4 million in grant payments were made to the “Siptu” account over nine years.
Mr O’Flynn said he thought it “quite incredible” that an organisation such as the HSE would hand over sums of money year after year, without any agreement or contract as to how the funds were to be used or audited.
