Civil servants 'scapegoats' for €14.8m project

CHARLIE McCREEVY and Joe Walsh were accused last night of allowing their civil servants take the blame for ignoring spending rules in fast-tracking €14.8 million for the Punchestown event centre.

Finance Minister Charlie McCreevy will splash out another €750,000 this weekend on showing off his pet project in his Kildare heartland to EU ministerial colleagues including €60,000 on hiring the facilities the taxpayer fully funded.

But despite suggestions that civil servants were being scapegoated last night, Mr McCreevy and his colleague, Agriculture Minister Joe Walsh, remained silent on the findings of a second damning report by a public finance watchdog on the controversial funding of the project.

Deeply critical of the role of the Departments of Agriculture and Finance, the Public Accounts Committee said each failed to properly evaluate the need for the exhibition and event centre. Accusing the departments of failing to implement Department of Finance guidelines, the PAC said there was no proper evaluation and State interest is still not protected.

Focusing in particular on Department of Agriculture secretary general John Malone, the report said he should have ensured the proper applications of the 1994 guidelines.

According to a Department of Finance spokesperson, arrangements are being introduced to reinforce the requirement for full adherence by departments with revised guidelines.

The Department of Agriculture said it was examining the PAC's recommendations and has already implemented certain elements.

But the opposition was scathing of the involvement of Mr McCreevy and Mr Walsh in the affair, with Fine Gael finance spokesman Richard Bruton saying the report begged the question of how many other projects was public money squandered upon.

Labour finance spokeswoman Joan Burton said the information indicates it was seen as a form of stroke politics and the buck rests with the ministers.

"It is regrettable that the ministers should duck responsibility and hide behind civil servants," she said.

Green Party spokesman Dan Boyle said he would have liked to have seen a political extent but the documentation available did not allow it to stand up, while Sinn Féin's Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin said Mr McCreevy should resign.