Teagasc top-up budget spent on junkets

Teagasc workers were treated to foreign junkets, nights at the greyhounds and horse racing meetings from a fund that should have been ploughed back into the semi-state agency.

Extravagant excesses were uncovered at Teagasc when units across the country mistakenly used a budget top- up to reward staff.

Workers were brought on trips to Copenhagen and Bordeaux, while in other cases meals, hotels, guided tours and boat trips were covered by the agricultural research body.

These were paid out of €500,000 in supplementary budget allocations that Teagasc divvied out to local operations in 2007 and 2008.

This had been held back from their original annual budgets, to be released if certain targets were met.

Internal auditor Eugene McDermott found that some managers believed the money could be spent on awards for staff. His inspection of local accounts was initially triggered when €20,000 in excesses was presented to him.

“[Examples] included staff celebratory meals, Christmas functions where overnight accommodation costs were also covered by the unit, strategy meetings where meals and overnight accommodation was provided and, in the case of an area unit, an all-inclusive study tour for staff to Bordeaux,” it said.

According to the auditor this happened despite an explicit instruction from Teagasc’s advisory directorate that the money allocated under the Business Planning Performance Award scheme was part of each unit’s core budget and was “not to be seen as a reward to staff”.

His report, released under the Freedom of Information Act, looked at 18 area units in Jan 2009 but also uncovered issues in other sections, including its headquarters.

Mr McDermott said a number of staff tours were funded directly from the Business Planning Performance Award. Others were paid through the Staff Training and Development Unit.

“Some of this expenditure is considered imprudent or extravagant and in excess of routine and modest year- end staff lunches or dinners,” he said.

In Dec 2008 the audit committee of Teagasc was made aware of concerns regarding €15,000 spending in the Cavan/Monaghan unit after it paid for a staff trip to France “outside the normal course of business for these Teagasc staff”.

In his audit a month later, Mr McDermott also noted significant spending on expenses at the National Ploughing Championships.

Teagasc said following the audit it decided the programme, which allocated part of the annual budget based on meeting specified targets, was ineffective and it was “terminated”.

“Teagasc currently has policies in place to advise staff and managers on travel, hospitality and entertainment expenditure,” it said.

“These policies ensure that there is consistency and transparency in relation to expenditure, that value for money is achieved and that it is necessary for the business of the organisation.”

High costs

Excesses uncovered in the audit of Teagasc’s Business Planning Performance Awards scheme in 2008.

* Staff in Cavan/Monaghan were taken on an all-inclusive trip to Bordeaux, France.

* Workers from Wexford were taken to Denmark.

* Units from Galway and Mayo took staff to the Aran Islands. Transport, meals, accommodation, and tours were covered.

* The Limerick, West Cork and the Teagasc dry stock unit had horse racing and greyhound meetings where means, admission, and accommodation was paid for.

* West Cork, East Cork, Dublin, Louth, and Meath groups were brought to Athenry Farm Fest, with receipts for meals, accommodation, and “miscellaneous boat and bus tours and guides”.