€300k design fees for sports academy

Concern has been voiced by the public spending watchdog about more than €300,000 spent by the Institute of Technology, Tralee, on consultant fees for the design of the Kerry Sports Academy without capital funding for the project being in place.

Fears that the institute may have to abandon its plans to develop a proposed Kerry Sports Academy come as the institute has issued a warning about its deteriorating financial situation.

The comptroller and auditor general Seamus McCarthy raised concern during an audit of the institute’s annual accounts about its expenditure of €339,000 on design team fees related to the proposed development of a €15m sports academy building on the campus.