Auditors concerned over spending of EU funds

AUDITORS reporting on the EU’s accounts for its €114 billion budget warned they are unhappy about €7bn paid out for rural development and to help poorer regions.

They raised several questions about Irish projects, including spending of the EU’s €144m budget for cross-border peace and reconciliation.

Ireland’s representative on the Court of Auditors, former Justice Minister Máire Geoghegan Quinn, said: “We believe that if about 2% of projects show errors that is acceptable but if its more than 2%, then questions need to be asked.”

They gave a clean bill of health to the EU’s own administration but said in at least 11% of the €42bn paid out to poorer regions and up to 5% of the €51bn for agricultural and rural development the rules are not being adhered to.

This money is dispersed by national governments and the detailed rules for projects are drawn up by them and approved by the European Commission.

But the auditors found that returns made by member states were not always accurate as in some instances they did not physically check if a development had in fact been completed.

In nine out of 13 agri-environment schemes examined in Ireland and France, the farmers were not eligible for funding under the government’s own rules.

Last year, Ireland got €426m for rural development but the auditors found final payment had been made without proper on-the-spot checks of the work.

They criticised supervision and control systems for the spending of €144m in cross-border projects designed to promote reconciliation and a stable society in the North and the border counties.

The programme has been worth close to €1bn in funding over the past eight years, 80% of it spent in the North and 15% on cross-border projects.

The Court of Auditors report called for rules to be simplified, especially in rural development and research.

“Well-designed rules that are easy to interpret and simple to apply reduce the risk of error,” said Ms Geoghegan Quinn.