Galway Bay FM Newsroom – An internal audit has criticised a number of financial practices at Galway City Partnership.

The investigation by Crowleys DFK accountants found the anti-poverty group made payments to contractors without receiving invoices, breached public procurement rules and did not regularly maintain accounting ledgers.

The Irish Times is reporting that auditors found Galway City Partnership’s accounting system ‘may not be fit for purpose’ and identified several weaknesses, which it said risked exposing the organisation to financial loss.

The audit, which was completed in February 2020, found the company’s general accounting ledgers were ‘not maintained on an ongoing basis’, and discrepancies between spending and allocated budgets were not tracked, it said.

One supplier had been providing services to the company for a number of years, ‘bypassing procurement procedures’, the audit said.

The investigation also criticised instances where payments were made without invoices being received.

In response, Galway City Partnership told the auditors the payments ‘were part of a research contract and as such no invoices were received’.

The report identified five high-risk weaknesses and concluded assurances that could be placed on the company’s financial controls were limited.

Declan Brassil, Galway City Partnership chief executive, said it had agreed a number of actions following the audit, which were now in place.

Galway Bay FM Newsroom – Galway City Council has launched its new cycle parking map.

The dashboard has details of the over 1,000 on-street public cycle parking spaces available in the city.

It comes as the Local Authority installed 296 new cycle parking spaces in 2020 – as well as a further 66 spaces during the first quarter of this year.

The City Council says the new map will help it to identify locations where additional cycle parking is needed.

Those wishing to access the dashboard can find it online at galwaycity.ie/cyclingmap.

Galway Bay FM Newsroom – The Church of Ireland Bishop of Tuam, Killala and Achonry Patrick Rooke has announced his retirement.

The announcement was made this morning and will take effect from the 31st of October.

Born on 12 April 1955, Bishop Patrick was educated at Sandford Park School and Salisbury and Wells Theological College; and ordained in 1979.

He began his ecclesiastical career with curacies in Newtownabbey and Ballywillan, and then held incumbencies at Craigs and Ballymore. He was Dean of Armagh from 2006 until 2011 and succeeded Bishop Richard Crosbie Aitken Henderson as Bishop of the Tuam, Killala and Achonry in that year.

Roman Catholic Archbishop of Tuam Michael Neary has paid tribute to Bishop Patrick calling him a “true pastor to his people” and praised his warm and welcoming personality, and his great ability to be at ease in company and to put others at ease in his presence.

Archbishop Neary also paid tribute to the support from the Bishop in making St Mary’s Cathedral available while the Cathedral of the Assumption is nearing the end of a major refurbishment.