Teagasc staff warned over leisure fund use
Tuesday December 15 2009
Teagasc staff had to be reminded not to spend public funds on entertainment, according to the agency's annual report for last year.
Auditor General John Buckley noted that €80,000 was incurred on staff entertainment and travel which was "not wholly business related".
In his report to the Oireachtas, Mr Buckley said it was not possible to precisely quantify how much of the €80,000 was "non-effective".
However, he added that he had been assured by Teagasc that, on foot of a review of the matter, appropriate policies on staff entertainment and foreign travel had been devised and published.
Improved guidance on the application of budgets were put in place, and staff were reminded of the acceptable use of public funds in relation to entertainment-type expenditure.
- Caitriona Murphy
Irish Independent
