Legal action threatened over €20m European Union grant

THE European Commission is demanding the Tánaiste’s department give back more than €20 million in EU grants - despite agreeing that the money was spent correctly.

The Department of Enterprise is vigorously contesting the demand and threatening legal action against the Commission to prevent the money being recouped.

The squabbling is over the technical details of the funding application, even though the Commission admits the expenditure was reasonable.