VEC funded sail programme while boat rotted

Public money was being spent for four years on a sail training programme while its flagship vessel was out of the water and deteriorating on blocks.

The €150,000-a-year County Cork VEC programme was set up in 2003 for early school leavers in Bantry, West Cork.

However, it has emerged the iconic boat the Omar B, on which the programme was built around, has been in dry dock in Baltimore, Cork, since summer 2007.