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THE US TOURISM arm of State transport company CIÉ has had to pay back more than $4.28 million to the American government after a whistleblower flagged that it should not have received the money in pandemic-era supports.
The sum was paid back by CIÉ Tours – a New York-headquartered company that is a wholly owned subsidiary of the CIÉ Group. The wider group contains Bus Éireann and Irish Rail, with CIÉ Tours a separate entity.
In response to questions from The Journal, the CIÉ Group said it entered into a settlement to pay back loans worth $3.4 million with “no admission of liability, wrongdoing, or violation” of the programme’s rules.
The money will be “fully accounted” for from CIÉ Tours’ own resources, with “no exposure” to the Irish State’s finances under the terms of the agreement.
CIÉ Tours is a US corporation with 134 employees, 82 of whom are based in the company’s offices in Morristown, New Jersey.
The company offers package tours across North America, Ireland and other European destinations – with one of its most popular advertised tours offering ‘the very best of the Emerald Isle’ including spots like the Ring of Kerry and the Cliffs of Moher.
The settlement followed a US Department of Justice enquiry into the company’s eligibility for two loans, in April 2020 and March 2021, prompted by the whistleblower’s complaint.
The repayments and added costs totalled $428,985.04, equalling roughly 3.4 million.
The investigation, which began in March last year, found...
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