Call for building inspection at school following arrest

A MAN has been arrested as part of a fraud investigation into building works, the Irish Mail on Sunday has learned.

The man was arrested last month in relation to an alleged fraud that led to a company being awarded a contract for works on the school which is under the control of the Kildare Wicklow Education Training Board (KWETB), which is currently under investigation by the Garda Fraud Squad.

Concerns have been raised about the safety of the structure – which students are due to enter in September – as it has not received appropriate certification.

Kildare county councillor Fiona McLoughlin-Healy has raised concerns about the safety of the building and has called for an independent examination of the building before September. ‘If concerns about the structure of the building have been made known… the (Education) Minister should apply the precautionary principle of public safety first,’ she said.

It is alleged the arrested man used headed paper from an ex-employer to fraudulently secure the tender for a new company which he established with a similar name shortly before being awarded the tender. Department of Education guidelines requiring firms tendering for such contracts to have a seven-year track record for similar work.

The MoS previously revealed that the fraud squad were investigating the KWETB for a breach of procurement law.

A report by the Comptroller and Auditor General, obtained by the MoS, details the family ties between former chief executive Seán Ashe and a number of companies which won tenders from the KWETB.

The C&AG report noted that the tender for the school was only open for 5.5 days and that they had not seen any evidence of how the tender from Ashten Engineering – run by Mr Ashe’s son Michael Ashe and his daughter-in-law Jennifer – was evaluated.

A spokesperson for the KWETB said the body was ‘committed to the highest standards of probity and accountability’.