Official ‘sorry’ for allowing TDs be misled over funds

A SENIOR Department of Enterprise official was accused of allowing the head of his department mislead an Oireachtas Committee about concerns over a multi-million euro Fás training scheme.

Department assistant secretary Dermot Mulligan yesterday apologised to TDs for failing to correct his boss at a previous committee meeting over whether alarms were raised about Fás projects.

The Dáil’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) had heard in July from department secretary general Sean Gorman, who said that no concerns were raised about the Competency Development Programme (CDP), which paid out €167 million to employers to upskill staff between 2003 and 2009.