Events firm criticised over debts

The firm was involved in bringing Elton John to Stormont in 1998

The head of a quango set up to bring high profile events to Northern Ireland has been accused of acting in a "cavalier fashion" with public money.

The assembly's Public Accounts Committee said there must be more control over such bodies.

The report said the Northern Ireland Events Company under Janice McAleese's stewardship had overspent by £1.2m.

The company, which has been wound up, had brought big-name musical acts like the Eagles and Rod Stewart to Stormont.

An independent review has been commissioned by Culture Minister Edwin Poots, who is due to give an update to Assembly members on the current situation in the coming weeks.

It is difficult to understand how the Events Company board... could have missed the exceptional nature of the spending commitments being entered into John O'Dowd

In a statement on Thursday, the Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure (DCAL) said it would be considering the report's recommendations.

"Very clearly there are a number of serious lessons to be learned from the recent experience of DCAL's sponsorship of the Northern Ireland Events Company," it said.

John O'Dowd, who chaired the Public Accounts Committee before being moved to the education committee, said: "The committee was told that the Events Company's chief executive operated well beyond the control framework specified for the company, breaching the delegated limits which she had been set.

"In a small number of cases, she treated funding in the most cavalier fashion, with even the most elementary aspects of financial management set aside.

"This has cost DCAL at least £1.2m.

"The committee notes that there were numerous warning signals which indicated that DCAL's sponsorship of the Events Company was inherently risky and therefore required a greater degree of oversight.

"It is therefore difficult to understand how the Events Company board, if it had full insight of its role and responsibilities, could have missed the exceptional nature of the spending commitments being entered into."

However, the PAC welcomed the "prompt, decisive and transparent action" reported by the accounting officer once the problems were discovered.