Department unsure if VEC misled it over leases

The head of the Department of Education does not know if Co Cork Vocational Education Committee intentionally misled it over leases it entered into without the department’s prior permission.

Department officials have met VEC acting chief executive Joan Russell and others over the issue which was highlighted by the Irish Examiner last week.

The department’s secretary general Seán Ó Foghlú told the Dáil Public Accounts Committee that, subsequent to the meeting on Feb 13, officials have written to ask the VEC to clarify a number of matters in relation to the lease arrangements.