Additional €900k paid into controversial SIPTU fund

THE first external report on the controversial SIPTU training fund has revealed a further €900,000 was paid into the union-named account which is currently at the centre of a Garda investigation.

A HSE audit of the Government-funded Skill Programme found that of the €67m spent between 2002 and 2009, €2.3m was paid to the SIPTU National Health and Local Authority Levy Fund.

In June, the union said it had not been aware of the payments, as they had not been entered into its official accounts. But it confirmed one of its officials, currently on sick-leave, was a signatory to the account.