HR chief’s concern over cash control at Templemore college
Documents that could have cleared up queries went missing
GARDA HR chief John Barrett has expressed concern over the findings of the Templemore audit because auditors had to presume all money collected was lodged to bank accounts.
The questions over cash controls at the Garda College are among a number of issues that he raised in a letter to the force’s chief internal auditor, Niall Kelly, last October.
They are sure to cause further embarrassment for embattled Garda Commissioner Nóirín O’Sullivan when she makes her second appearance before the Public Accounts Committee to answer questions about financial irregularities at the college.
In the detailed 14-page letter – written after he received an interim audit from the Garda’s head auditor – Mr Barrett writes: ‘I remain of the view that there is very little likelihood of being able to truly substantiate the path followed by all of the cash in the commercial systems managed by gardaí in the Garda College.
‘It is impossible to know what total receipts were in any time interval. You were essentially left with reconciling expenditure made from bank accounts and on the presumption that all cash collected was lodged.
‘Till reconciliation is not a longterm historic reality and so the verification process is not a closed loop. I remain concerned about this possible porosity and I am therefore uncomfortable with the assurance offered with respect to the veracity of cash control.’
Referring to missing documentation – which could throw some light on how much cash was in circulation among the various businesses operated at the college – Mr Barrett claimed, in a separate document in the dossier, that he has given to the PAC, that he was warned to be ‘very careful’ when he raised this at a meeting in Templemore College on July 27, 2015 .
Commissioner O’Sullivan claims it was during this meeting that she first became aware of financial irregularities at the college and her recollection of the meeting was that it was a chat over a cup of tea.
But Mr Barrett insists the meeting was arranged to discuss advice given to the commissioner that she should inform Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald about the financial irregularities at the college. In his minutes, Mr Barrett says the Garda Commissioner perused a 2008 report (the McGee Report) on financial irregularities at Templemore and concluded ‘there was no evidence of misappropriation’.
More recently, Mr Barrett raised concerns about paperwork apparently going missing when he wrote to the Garda’s chief internal auditor. In his letter to Mr Kelly seven months ago, he wrote: ‘I have been very concerned about the issue of records and its relationship to cash disbursements at the Garda College, most especially since attending a meeting in the Garda College.
‘At that meeting, which was attended by the commissioner, the CAO and the two acting deputy commissioners at the time, I was twice warned that the reference to the books of account for the restaurant having “gone missing” was a very dangerous reference and that I should be “very careful”.’
‘I am uncomfortable with the assurance’