Shock horror, €1 million goes missing at Exams Commission

segaBOY

I, a devoted former Leaving Cert student would never have thought it, but, apparently €1 million just dissappeared from the Department of Education's branch in Atlone. That's quite a bit, I mean fair enough if €1 thousand went missing-human error. Ya ok you'd be a little pissed if €100 thousand went missing but you'd get over it. But for €1 million to just dissappear, well I find that hard to swallow. Especially since, I, an Irish student, a son of a loyal tax payer and a future tax payer requested two Examination Papers from 1995 and 1996 and was pretty much told "sorry, we are swamped with work here and these type of requests cost MONEY", a few sheets of paper, some toner from the photocopier, two staples, an envelope and a stamp (or a postage licence in their case)-thats all I was asking for. Including the cost of labour (or monkies who can loose a million euro) I'd figure thatid cost less then €5.

The killer? I offered to pay any fee-and I was prepared to pay over the odds.

But now we know a million euro is missing. Lost? Stolen? Burned? Who the hell knows, all I know is that my little request was too expensive, even the thought of replying to my second e-mail must have cost 1 million euro alone.


€1 million, nice sum isn't it-and someone dead or alive probably has it resting in various bank accounts but I don't still have my less than €5 request and now it's too late....I've done my Leaving.

kaisersose77

http://www.rte.ie/news/2006/0628/athlone.html

I think I read that the guy killed himself (drank weed killer or something) when he found out that they were investigated the matter a month ago.

segaBOY

If you were him would you kill yourself? I mean ya, it'd be tough having to be paranoid for a few weeks/months and the whole shame brought on your family could be a bit of a downer but on the flip side you'd be a bit of a celebrity and noone would care too much as it is State money after all plus they're are a lot of worse crimes (rape, murder, child abuse just to name a few) than fraud.

Naikon

I wouldent be surprised if corruption is rife in the SEC.

Kwekubo

Naikon wrote:

I wouldent be surprised if corruption is rife in the SEC.

€90 for the stationery and the glue doesn't even hold the papers sealed...:rolleyes:

spurious

Naikon wrote:

I wouldent be surprised if corruption is rife in the SEC.

That's quite a statement to make.

Naikon

Ok i agree the statement is a little harsh and doesent reflect the majority of employees, only a small minority who use their position and power to commit such fraud.
I am sounding a bit like a paranoid conspiricist now:rolleyes:

spurious

The fact that they found the discrepancy means a close eye is being kept. Remember the SEC is not in existence all that long, so of course it will be a matter of time before all systems are airtight. The SEC is also independent from the Department of Education and Science, so I'm not sure if the quoted RTE story applies to the SEC.

I don't know the circumstances of the person alleged to have been involved in this incident, but for such a large amount of money it must have either been going on a long time, or the person had some sort of black hole for money such as gambling or drugs. It's sad that whatever it was, they appear to have felt it was an issue worth ending their life over, if that is what happened.

Sooner or later they will do away with the exam fees anyway. Already a sizeable percentage of candidates have their exam fees waived, so hopefully when that happens it will do away with any further possibility for a similar fraud.

I've been involved with the SEC in a number of roles and I must say their procedures for confidentiality and fairness from the drafting process right through to the corrections are quite impressive.

fatal

so this is what happens to the 90+ euros that we pay for the exams...................
To think that there is no corruption in the education system is a ludacris though

delta_bravo

this thread is completely incorrect. the person who commited this fraud was in the dep. of education. not the s.e.c.. The money, which is nowhere near a million was not taken from the s.e.c., but from the department. i know someone who is investigating it. the amount is nowhere near a million, its just the media being hyperbolic:D

segaBOY

delta_bravo wrote:

this thread is completely incorrect. the person who commited this fraud was in the dep. of education. not the s.e.c.. The money, which is nowhere near a million was not taken from the s.e.c., but from the department. i know someone who is investigating it. the amount is nowhere near a million, its just the media being hyperbolic:D

Whatever the amount is it shouldn't happen