Kieran O'Donnell (Limerick City, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome Mr. Ó Foghlú. I want to touch on a few issues. Mr. Ó Foghlú provided the committee with an item of correspondence about County Wexford Vocational Education Committee, which effectively is about something that has resulted in the waste of taxpayers' money to the tune of €420,500. It relates to a situation whereby the VEC moved to a new building in Ardcavan Business Park, in Wexford, on 1 July 2006 and left an existing building which was costing it €67,465 per annum in rent. That lease was first taken out in October 1984 but it still had eight years to run to 21 October 2014. It initially let the building it vacated where it had its headquarters for a two year period from July 2006 to June 2008 for an annual figure of €51,000, which effectively was €102,000. It could not secure a tenant post that event. It continued to try to sub-let the building and sub-let a portion of it from 2012 to October 2014, which is a two year period, at a rate of €7,000. That brings the total between 2006 and 2014 to €119,500, yet the rent it paid to a landlord on the premises was €540,000. The net cost, therefore, in terms of waste of taxpayers' money was €420,500.

How did that situation arise and how was it allowed to continue? Do similar situations arise with regard to other VEC buildings, now education and training boards, ETBs, in various areas under the control of Mr. Ó Foghlú's Department? This issue is hot off the press, so to speak, in that it is a letter of 13 May this year and it indicates what this committee is about, namely, appraising the use of taxpayers' money. How did it happen?