CIÉ criticised for performance in reporting to department

[Colm Moore]

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/...278995756.html

CIÉ criticised for performance in reporting to department
COLM KEENA Public Accounts Correspondent

CIÉ : THE PERFORMANCE of CIÉ in reporting to the Department of Transport has been criticised by the Comptroller Auditor General, John Buckley.

Suggesting changes to how State bodies report to their departments, Mr Buckley outlined how the CIÉ chairman, Dr John Lynch, had been criticised for not informing Minister for Transport Noel Dempsey about a special report into procurement and control issues at Iarnród Éireann.

A report by Baker Tilly Ryan Glennon found procurement lapses involving a loss of €2.6 million, according to Mr Buckley.

Mr Dempsey complained to Dr Lynch in October 2009, following media coverage of the report, that his department had only been told about it days previously and that it had not been mentioned by Dr Lynch in his annual statement on compliance with the code of practice governing State bodies.

The department sought assurances from CIÉ that recommendations for changes made in the report were being implemented.

Mr Buckley noted that Dr Lynch’s report for CIÉ for 2009 was submitted under the 2001 code of practice and not the one introduced in June 2009. The department sought a revised report and this was submitted in July 2010. Mr Buckley also found that CIÉ had not adhered to requirements governing the timely submission of accounts.