TDs express 'shock' at news that council defrauded of €500k

A full internal investigation needs to be carried to ascertain how Westmeath County Council was defrauded of more than a half a million euros, a local TD has said.

Speaking after Wesmeath County Council issued a statement earlier today confirming that it had been defrauded of approximately €515,000 by a third party, Deputy Sorca Clarke said that everything needs to be done to recover taxpayers' money.

“A full internal investigation needs to happen as soon as possible. Our local authority is funded through taxpayers' money and there is a high level of expectation that it is used for its intended purpose. The person responsible [for the fraud] needs to be held accountable and any weaknesses in internal control need to be rectified as soon as possible.”

Deputy Robert Troy said he was “shocked” to hear the news.

“Obviously the critical thing now is for the council to work with An Garda Siochana to see if it is possible to recover any of the funding that has been fraudulently paid out and secondly, to ensure that all systems are checked and that the proper cyber security is put in place to prevent something like this happening again.

“This is taxpayers' money, this is rate payers' money and it is critically important that people who are paying their rates have confidence that the money is being put to the appropriate use.

“That being said, it is fraud. The gardaí are investigating and we hope that they will come to a successful conclusion.

“We need to learn from the mistake and ensure that something like this doesn't happen again.”