A report by the State spending watchdog has found that a senior SIPTU official did not seek approval when organising foreign trips.

The Comptroller and Auditor General (C&AG) has completed a report into the Skills Programme Fund.

It found that approval for the Fund was never sought from the national officers of SIPTU or from the National Executive Council of the union. It has also confirmed the finding of the SIPTU Trustees that the monies in the fund were not processed through the accounting system of the Union.

Over €4 million was paid into the Fund by a range of public sector bodies in the years 2002 to 2009. The bulk of which was from the Department of Health.

The inspection found that errors could have been prevented had appropriate financial controls been put in place.

These included invoices for expenses totalling €98,000 being submitted twice and cheques being drawn for cash to the value of almost €12,000 without invoices.

€3.15 million in costs to the taxpayer

The C&AG found that the net cost to taxpayers of the operations of the Fund between 2002 and 2011 was of the order of €3.15 million.

SIPTU says it accepts the findings of the report that travel arrangements paid for by the fund were 'inappropriate' as they 'bypassed internal controls over the charging of - and accountability for foreign travel by public employees'.

It adds that details of the trips were not made available to the SIPTU Trustees in advance of their report in 2011.

SIPTU acknowledges that there was also a lack of sufficient oversight within the union in relation to the administration of the Fund. It says this has led to a change in the rules of the union and a complete review of its corporate governance structures.

SIPTU has requested to be given the opportunity to appear before the Oireachtas Public Accounts Committee in order to further clarify its position and to assist the Committee on matters that arise from the report.