A VEC has asked Education Minister Ruairí Quinn to remove a committee member who helped to expose a number of financial problems within the group.

Fresh details have emerged of the costs of unapproved lending County Cork VEC arranged to fund a budget shortfall at a childcare centre.

The head of the Department of Education does not know if Co Cork Vocational Education Committee intentionally misled it over leases it entered into without the department’s prior permission.

A former chairman of County Cork VEC has defended his role in unsanctioned lease and loan arrangements at a youth facility in Mallow.

County Cork VEC secured more than €430,000 in unauthorised borrowings from Mallow Credit Union and signed up to a long lease with no permission.