Report criticises language body’s practices

MORE than €6m was given out in grants by the North/South Language Body without formal approval from the governments in the republic and Northern Ireland, it has emerged.

The cross-border organisation is one of several North/South bodies established under the Good Friday agreement that have been criticised in a report by the Comptroller & Auditor General over poor accounting practices.

It found the North/South Language Body, which was established to promote Irish and Ulster-Scots through Foras na Gaeilge and the Ulster-Scots Agency respectively, had not sought approval from the North-South Ministerial Council and finance ministers in both jurisdictions as required by law for grant money it issued in 2000.

Although the organisation subsequently sought and received the approval, the report claims about €1.1m in grant aid issued by Foras na Gaeilge still did not have supporting documentation to prove the money was spent as intended.

The report, which was prepared jointly by the recently retired C&AG John Purcell and the auditor general for north, John Dowdall, also questioned the internal control systems within the agency as well as overseas trips by its personnel to the US, Canada and Italy in 2001, which cost almost €90,000.

The agency’s governing legislation restricted its functions to the promotion of the language to the island of Ireland. However, a protocol was introduced in 2005 that allowed the agency to legitimately engage with overseas cultural organisations to raise awareness of the language within Ireland.

Mr Purcell said audit problems experienced by some of the North/South bodies had their roots in the inherent difficulties that arose in their establishment as new organisations with cross-border responsibilities coupled with a lack of resources in their early years.

The Food Safety Promotion Board was also criticised for its failure to follow public procurement procedures for its advertising budget €1m in 2000, as well as the manner in which it obtained its offices in Cork. The C&AG said a tender for its advertising should have been advertised in the Official Journal of the EU.

Mr Purcell also expressed concern that 80% of the funding for research projects worth almost €1.7m was paid on the signing of contracts, which potentially exposed the board to loss if the contract did not progress satisfactorily. The board had also failed to establish a mechanism for verifying if monies were spent on the purpose for which they were granted.

The report found the board had probably not obtained the best value for money in the manner in which it spent more than €2m on the fit-out of its office in Cork in 2001.

Other bodies that were subject to some criticism were Waterways Ireland, Tourism Ireland and the Foyle, Carlingford and Irish Lights Commission.