Inquiry needed as Workers Lose €9.2 million training money

Dublin South West Sinn Féin TD Seán Crowe has said the Department of Education and Skills has serious questions to answer following reports that €9.2million which had been secured for redundant Dell workers in Limerick has been lost as a result of maladministration by the Department. The new information was received from the Department in a parliamentary question asked Mr Crowe’s party colleague Pearse Doherty, TD.

Deputy Crowe said:

“Workers made redundant by Dell in 2008 were due to receive retraining supports to the tune of €22.8 million following an application by the then government to the European Globalisation Fund. This money was to be used to assist these workers return to the workforce.

“However, Sinn Féin can reveal that a massive €9.2million of this fund which had to be used by June 2011, was not spent. This means two thirds of this money will be returned to the European Commission under EGF rules.

“It is a scandal that a fund intended to assist workers made redundant in 2008 was unspent more than three years after they lost their jobs and that a significant portion of this €9.2million will be returned to the European Commission is simply beyond comprehension.

““While we do not know the amounts involved yet, a similar picture is likely to emerge with other programmes funded by the European Globalisation Fund. Thousands of workers in SR Technics, Waterford Crystal and the Construction sector are likely to lose out as a result of  similar mismanagement and maladministration.

“I am calling for an independent inquiry to be established into the management and administration of these European Globalisation Funded projects. This is the only way to determine who is responsible and, more importantly, to make sure that this kind of scandal never happens again.”