Irish Rail accused of burying €8.6m fraud

IRISH RAIL have been accused of burying a report which concluded a potential €8.6 million in taxpayers’ funds was lost through cracks in its contracting systems and through fraud.

An independent accountancy firm told Irish Rail in mid-2008 in a draft report that it had found the “historic loss,” but the CIÉ group told the consultants that it had strayed outside its terms of reference.

The subsequent report by accountants Baker Tilly Ryan Glennon (BTRG) on Irish Rail found that almost €2.5m was lost to the group through problems with procurement methods and fraudulent activity.