Seán Fleming (Laois, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Here are three examples of cyberfraud that we have spotted this year. That is an issue the Committee of Public Accounts certainly needs to come back to, because this is fraud targeting public expenditure, and represents a loss to the taxpayer. Cyberfraud and the associated public losses are another item for the work programme.

I refer to the circumstances that gave rise to this incident. I will not read all of the letter, but it states that in early 2017 unauthorised access by a third party to the email account of an employee of Trinity Foundation resulted in the authorisation of fraudulent payments to individuals unconnected to the Trinity College Dublin or Trinity Foundation. The letter goes on to say that the original amount defrauded was €217,000, which has since been recovered; that the remainder is subject to ongoing investigation inside and outside the State; and that the university is also pursuing the matter with its insurance providers. Moreover, at this stage, the loss, including the cost of investigation and other ancillary costs, amounts to €974,781.

The correspondence is to be noted and published. It states that Trinity College has now essentially transferred the processing of payments function from the Trinity Foundation to the university's financial services division. We will write to Trinity College seeking an update on this matter in the autumn. We will need an update. This issue and the resultant loss to the public is now starting to come before the Committee of Public Accounts. The loss in this instance was to the Trinity Foundation.