VEC told not to pay for legal advice

A VEC used taxpayers’ money to engage a barrister to see if it had been defamed by a newspaper investigation into its finances — despite a departmental warning not to spend money on such legal opinion.

County Cork VEC said it did not know what the bill would be for the solicitors and the barrister.

However, its acting CEO, Joan Russell, confirmed she had met the senior counsel along with CCVEC chairman Gerry Kelly and the external solicitor advising it on this issue, which arose from an Irish Examiner investigation.