Anonymous tip-off revealed VEC debt

REVELATIONS of a large debt heaped on County Cork VEC due to the collapse of a private computer company only came to light because of an anonymous tip-off to a powerful Dáil committee.

The Department of Education, which has expressed serious concerns about the deal, was not aware of the loss until a person contacted the Public Accounts Committee last October.

It subsequently discovered the VEC had borrowed the equivalent of €216,000, which it gave to a private company, Mobile Voyager Solutions. This was to fund computer-generated learning aids to Glanmire Community College. Only €54,000 was returned to the VEC before the company dissolved, leaving the VEC to pay the outstanding €164,000 itself.