The Comptroller and Auditor General is to investigate the operation of an unofficial SIPTU bank account which was operated by the union between 1998 and 2010.
More than €5 million was paid into the controversial bank account – the Siptu National Health and Local Authority Levy fund - used to finance foreign trips for public officials and trade union figures, according to a report published in December.
A statement published on the Dáil's Public Accounts Committee website said it was referring the matter for further investigation by the Comptroller and Auditor General.
Chairman of the Committee John McGuinness said the decision, taken yesterday, arose from a stand-off between Siptu and the HSE.
Deputy McGuinness wrote in the statement: "In order to bring a conclusion to this issue, the Committee has asked the Comptroller and Auditor General to make a comprehensive report to the Committee on the operation of this account.
"We can only finalise consideration of this issue when all the facts are before us. In that regard, the Comptroller and Auditor General must be given full access to all information, including the Grant Thornton Report which holds key information in the way this Account operated and the way in which funds were spent in an unorthodox fashion on foreign travel and lavish entertainment."
“I have asked the Comptroller and Auditor General to come back to the Committee if he is frustrated at any stage in his attempts to get access to full information”, the statement concluded.
The December report, by the Department of Health and the Health Service Executive, found that, at €5.057 million, the known receipts paid into the account were significantly higher than previously known.
