A former FÁS manager who was at the centre of an RTÉ Prime Time programme last year has hit back at new allegations made in the media last week of mismanagement of funds in the organisation while he was working there. Eddie Hoban, speaking to the Mayo Advertiser this week, refuted the allegations that €1,980 was claimed by Castlebar Care for the Aged Social Economy Ltd for services that didn’t exist.
The newspaper article stated there was documentation saying that the company claimed €300 for bus fuel, €180 for maintenance, €1,300 for wages for the bus driver, and €200 for bus insurance and tax for a one month period. Mr Hoban told the Mayo Advertiser that no such claim was ever made by the company and that the only time those figures were ever mentioned in documentation by the company was in a proposed business plan. “I have no documentation that a claim was ever submitted by the company for the payments that were outlined and not one cent was ever paid in relation to the figures quoted. The veracity of this can easily be had by an application to the department under the Freedom of Information Act.”
Mr Hoban went on to challenge the documentation that alleged to show those funds were applied for, saying, “If you showed them to an accountant it would only take them a few minutes to show you how to recognise a business plan when you see one”.
