Events company complaint revealed

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BBC Newsline's Julian O'Neill reports on the complaint

By Julian O'Neill
BBC News

The Northern Ireland Events Company collapsed with huge debts

More than two years before the Northern Ireland Events Company (NIEC) collapsed with huge debts, an alarm bell was sounded to Government.

The BBC has obtained the details of a serious complaint made about how the NIEC was being run.

The company - funded by the Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure - folded last year £1.6m in the red - and public money is being used to pay those owed money.

In May 2005, the organiser of a major, annual equestrian event lodged a complaint to senior civil servants - also later conveyed to ministers - about a "serious and potentially explosive situation" involving the NIEC.

100k owed

Mother-of-two Teresa McKenna from south Derry ran the Belfast International Horse Show at the Odyssey in 2003 and 2004, but it collapsed with debts of more than £100,000 owed to a string of creditors.

It had private backers, but she blames the events company for the show's failure - 'promised' funding never arrived.

"They (the NIEC) treated us abominably. The mismanagement, in my opinion, was deplorable," said Mrs McKenna.

Mrs McKenna has correspondence sent from the e-mail of the events company's then chief executive Janice McAleese.

The e-mail told Mrs McKenna to "stop panicking ... I have already confirmed you will receive £100k core funding and £50k marketing" for the 2004 horse show.

But the event only ever received £50,000, triggering a formal complaint to government who appointed a retired civil servant to examine what had gone on.

The company helped bring Elton John to Stormont in 1998

He observed "a clear gulf" in the recollections of those involved and said those behind the show may have been "naive" to have anticipated substantial funding.

However, he recommended further investigation in respect of another of Mrs McKenna's claims - a £17,618 payment the events company made to car dealer Charles Hurst.

Hurst's was owed the money by the horse show, but while other creditors went unpaid, the NIEC paid the car dealer from the public purse.

Mrs McKenna said Ms McAleese told her Hurst's were the NIEC's biggest sponsor and "she was afraid she'd lose them for future events."

A subsequent investigation by accountancy experts KPMG found that Ms McAleese authorised the payment, even though she'd previously denied one had been made.

It is unclear whether the authors of the KPMG report saw an e-mail sent from Ms McAleese's NIEC e-mail address to Mrs McKenna. In it, Ms McAleese said: "No-one must find out we paid (Charles Hurst) directly."

'Improper'

The Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure has not revealed whether or not it wants the money back. However, DCAL Permanent Secretary Paul Sweeney recently wrote to Mrs McKenna saying the Hurst payment was "improper".

Another investigation has been offered to Mrs McKenna.

"The events company mismanaged a lot of events for a lot of years and DCAL ignored it. They need to take it on the chin and put it right. They've got to learn from this and make sure it doesn't happen again," she said.

Ms McAleese did not respond to BBC requests for comment.