Senior official overpaid €70,000

A RETIRED senior Department of Education official was overpaid over €70,000 because of misinterpretation of rules on payment for unused holidays.

The mistake was discovered during a payroll audit at the department and led to 16 other such cases being unearthed.

The Department of Finance has subsequently asked all other government departments to review their files to identify similar cases where annual leave carryover rules had not been properly applied, after the matter was brought to its attention by the Comp- troller and Auditor General (C&AG) John Purcell.