Report slams council for failings over €160m budget

A confidential report on Cork City Council has revealed a catalogue of shortcomings in how it has been managing its €160m annual budget.

The report, by local government auditor Eamonn Daly, said the council was not doing enough to resolve failings. He informed the outgoing city manager, Tim Lucey, of weaknesses across many areas.

His report was issued on November 11, at the same time as the publicly available statutory audit. It itemised the main areas of concern but said the 11-page review of the council’s 2012 accounts was not an exhaustive list of all the issues.

In a statement, Mr Lucey said that staff reductions and reorganisations had placed considerable stress on the authority but that it was reforming.

This was in response to the report, which revealed:

nThe partially completed flyover at the Sarsfield Rd roundabout has already cost 50% more than its €21.75m budget;

nThe council has a €27m shortfall from loans drawn down to buy affordable houses. No improvement was made in 2012;

nNo progress has been made in securing any of the 96 Atkin’s Hall apartments bought for €25m in 2007 — a €3.4m deposit was made but no units were handed over.

Many of these issues were not flagged, or only referred to in general terms, in the publicly available audit.

Mr Daly also told the city manager the council had not been doing enough. “I wish to state that I have concerns at the poor response to the significant internal control weaknesses across many areas of the council as identified within a number of recent reports, including my own,” said Mr Daly.

Mr Lucey is leaving on April 3 to take over as manager of Cork County Council.

In a statement, Mr Lucey said there had been improvements.

“The matters raised by the auditor reflect the balance between risk and resource considering that the organisation has lost 341 staff over the past four years, has gone through significant ongoing restructuring which is disruptive by its nature, while at the same time the organisation continued to be required to deliver a similar and indeed enhanced level of service,” he said.