Tom Sheahan (Kerry South, Fine Gael)
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Question 57: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, further to the answer given to Parliamentary Questions Nos. 39 and 40 of 29 January 2009, the precise reasons for public funds being disallowed or recovered for all programmes or other activities operated by or on behalf of her Department; the amount and percentage of public funds so disallowed or recovered in relation to each project or activity involved; the overall amounts and percentages of such public funds so disallowed or recovered for each programme or activity; if she will confirm that the only recourse to legal and auditing actions across her Department or its agencies in relation to this organisation has been as recounted in her reply to these parliamentary questions on 29 January 2009; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [7442/09]

Mary Coughlan (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)
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The detailed information being sought by the Deputy, going back to 2000, is currently being researched across my Department; however, given the short time available to me since the Deputy tabled this Question, I am not yet in a position to provide those details. I will however, communicate further with the Deputy once the research is complete.

The House will appreciate that my Department administers Exchequer funds, European funds, most notably the European Social Fund (ESF), and the National Training Fund (NTF) and in so doing we implement an array of central Government, European Commission and, of course, our own internal financial controls — all aimed at ensuring that national and European moneys are properly applied. Where an audit or other financial "check" by, or on behalf of, my Department appears to suggest that moneys may have been misapplied or, as may sometimes occur, technical breaches of financial accounting requirements may have occurred, my Department, in the first instance, works with the Body concerned to endeavour to resolve the matter such that the financial procedures being implemented by the Body concerned are brought back into compliance with minimal recoupment of funds resulting. In some cases, for example under the European Structural Funds Financial Regulations, a breach of those regulations can often be corrected in such a way that the structural funds are not lost to Ireland, although they may have to be recovered from the particular Body concerned and applied elsewhere.

In that regard, I should stress that my Department works collaboratively with the Bodies we fund in an effort to minimize the prospect of a breach of financial control systems. Nonetheless, it can come to pass that in some cases we inevitably have to seek to recover moneys where they were misapplied or simply not adequately or properly accounted for, although this is always the last option we seek to exercise, save in cases of fraud or embezzlement etc.

Finally, in relation to the specific case the Deputy raises in the early part of his Question, I am informed that the Body concerned failed an audit control check by my Department in that the "audit trail" requirements under EU Structural Funds rules were not met. In such circumstances, my Department has sought to recover the moneys involved and that process is in train. Accordingly, I would prefer not to go further into the details of the issues involved at this time as the matter is currently before the Courts, although I would be happy to share with the Deputy and the House the details of the case once the matter has been brought to a conclusion.