Lanpag - Partnership or Shared Slush Fund ?

[C. Flower]

The PAC is discussing partnership government funding that went to SIPTU.

589,000 invoices, 200,00 paid over and paid in two block payments "provision to strengthen TU input" Q. "To convince people of the virtues of PPPs? " says Roisin Shortall.

Lanpag seems to be a key body in this.

Principal officers of the Department also went to Canada (2007)
10 people went to Canada
6 Union
Partnership Officer in Landpag - Geraldine Brown
2 Local Authority

Matt Merrigan Nat Ind. Sec. signed invoices for consultants, room hire, food, etc.

9 went to Madrid in 2003 - 7 Union reps.

New York 2001 8 participants 4 Union, 3 Local Gov, 1 from the Department.

The request for the 100000 payments came to Landpag from Matt Merrigan.

[C. Flower]

I believe the Department in question must be Environment?

Lanpag seems to have been a body under the Local Management Services C.
set up to introduce Partnership at local level.

Jack O'Connor's attempts to distance SIPTU from this spending is very odd seeing as the invoices seem to have come directly from SIPTU.

A lot of the invoices relate to training consultants, hotels, computer equipment, travel, food etc.

[Rich]

The PAC is discussing the "mystery account" between

589,000 invoices, 200,00 paid over and paid in two block payments "provision to strengthen TU input" Q. "To convince people of the virtues of PPPs? " says Roisin Shortall.

Landpag seems to be a key body in this.

Principal officers of the Department also went to Canada (2007)
10 people went to Canada
6 Union
Partnership Officer in Landpag - Geraldine Brown
2 Local Authority

Matt Merrigan Nat Ind. Sec. signed invoices for consultants, room hire, food, etc.

9 went to Madrid in 2003 - 7 Union reps.

New York 2001 8 participants 4 Union, 3 Local Gov, 1 from the Department.

The request for the 100000 payments came to Landpag from Matt Merrigan.

Is there any indication of what the trips were supposed to be for?

[C. Flower]

"Training"

[Rich]

"Training"

Oh Oh

[C. Flower]

There are a number of press reports on this today -

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/...282233828.html

http://www.google.ie/url?sa=t&source...G7iyCy2XwlOeaw

http://www.google.ie/url?sa=t&source...G7iyCy2XwlOeaw

ALMOST €790,000 was paid into the bank account at the centre of the Skill training programme controversy by a local authority body funded by the Department of the Environment.

The Dáil’s public accounts committee yesterday heard invoices came from “Siptu head office”, while the trade union has been asked to provide documentation relating to €200,000 of the money.

The department’s secretary general Geraldine Tallon said the department had no knowledge the account had a “dubious status” and was not an official Siptu account for the 10 years over which the money was paid.

A total of €789,919.16 was put into the Siptu national health and local authority levy fund account by the Local Authority National Partnership Advisory Group (Lanpag), she confirmed.

Ms Tallon said the money was paid between 1999 and last year “on foot of Siptu invoices in respect of costs associated with training of Siptu trade union representatives” in areas relevant to the partnership process.

Jack O'Connor went on television and denied that the account was a SIPTU account.

Some more on Lanpag -

http://www.google.ie/url?sa=t&source...A9TkzPAoLzEWDg

http://www.google.ie/url?sa=t&source...PWiyFhMs9AGm_Q

http://www.la-accessibility.ie/LANPAG.aspx

I reckon that for about four years in upper Local Government circles, every other meal eaten was a hotel carvery lunch at some or other talking shop/training session.

[C. Flower]

The University of Limerick now seems to be involved in this.

A SPECIAL adviser to the Taoiseach has said money that was allocated by the Department of Health to trade union Siptu in 2004 was aimed at supporting a training scheme.

Deirdre Gillane, who was a special adviser to then minister for health Micheál Martin, said internal letters and e-mails made clear the €190,000 grant was aimed at providing support for Siptu’s front-line supervisors training scheme.

She said yesterday this had been facilitated by the former office for health management in conjunction with the University of Limerick.

The controversial grant to Siptu is now at the centre of a number of investigations by various bodies and organisations including the Dáil public accounts committee.

The committee heard in a public session last month that money from this grant was paid into a bank account, known as the Siptu National Health and Local Authority Levy fund, controlled by senior Siptu official Matt Merrigan and another individual associated with the union, Jack Kelly.

The HSE has contended that money from this account was used to fund a number of controversial foreign trips involving trade union figures and public officials. Siptu has said it had no knowledge of such grant payments and that the account was not an official one.

Documents published on the official website of the public accounts committee earlier this week show that the continuation of the payment of the controversial annual grant to Siptu by the Department of Health was approved by then minister Micheál Martin in September 2004.

The documents show the minister told Mr Merrigan that money would continue to be provided to support the training of “front-line supervisors”.

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/...282790294.html