Trevor Ó Clochartaigh (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I appreciate both the Minister's comprehensive response and its clarity. This is an extremely serious issue, as I am sure the Minister will agree. A service essentially applied for €197,000 on foot of information that was incorrect and was found to be so by Pobal when it conducted its audit. I appreciate that a repayment plan is in place, which I believe raises other questions for the board of Muintearas and even for Údarás na Gaeltachta as to where the money that was paid to Muintearas went - and how is it paying it back, if all of its funding is in fact State funding for the project. This is an issue for another day.

On the legal issue, I asked someone who has a legal background to consider this matter on my behalf and that person thinks it is extremely serious in its nature. The person concerned even stated that it appears there was deception for the purposes of causing a loss to the Exchequer, which could be an offence under the Criminal Justice (Theft and Fraud Offences) Act 2001. That is the reason I raised the issue of legality and the normal role of the auditor in this regard. Are auditors conducting an audit not legally obliged to report any wrongdoing that could be illegal to the relevant authorities? This does not appear to have happened in this case, but perhaps it should have for further investigation.