‘Events company report damning’ – Bradley

SDLP MLA for Newry and Armagh and Member of the Culture Arts, and Leisure Committee Dominic Bradley MLA has said that Audit Office’s report into the failure of the Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure to oversee its arm’s length body, the NI Events Company, is damning in the extreme.

SDLP MLA Dominic Bradley

Commenting on the report Bradley said, “I welcome the Audit Office report into the NI Events Company (NIEC) albeit that it comes eight years after the collapse of the company.

“Just why it has taken so long to get to the truth of the matter is incomprehensible given that two forensic accountancy investigations were carried out into it, the DETI companies inspectorate looked into it, and the PSNI investigated for a second time having said first of all that there were no grounds for a criminal case.

“Eventually it was left to the audit office to report on it. One can only describe the whole situation as totally bizarre,” he insisted.

“It is ridiculous that more money has now been spent on investigations into NIEC than the company originally lost. The irony of all this that the Culture Arts and Leisure Department has not really learned any lessons from this debacle as recent difficulties with Sport NI and the Casement project have shown.

Bradley added, “Although this report rightly highlights the failures of the Chief Executive and Chair of the Board of the Northern Ireland Events Company there were others too who failed in their duty and who have been allowed to slip off into the shadows.”

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Posted by Newry Times News on Sep 29 2015. Filed under Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry