C&AG report: €1.4m overpaid to six schools under government-funded meals initiative

Inflated pupil numbers and spending on non-food items were behind overpayments of €1.4m to six schools under a government-funded school meals programme.

But the Department of Social Protection still had loose checks on how funds were being spent three years after irregularities first showed up.

The Comptroller and Auditor General’s (C&AG) office reports overpayments of €402,873 to one school in 2011, mainly due to spending on non-food items and inadequate records of either participating pupils or supplies. Almost €130,000 had yet to be paid back in summer 2014.