{"id":1004150,"date":"2026-06-04T05:04:24","date_gmt":"2026-06-04T05:04:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1004150\/"},"modified":"2026-06-04T05:04:24","modified_gmt":"2026-06-04T05:04:24","slug":"answers-demanded-over-scandalous-thefts-from-northern-ireland-civil-service-of-almost-360000-in-four-years-the-irish-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1004150\/","title":{"rendered":"Answers demanded over \u2018scandalous\u2019 thefts from Northern Ireland civil service of almost \u00a3360,000 in four years \u2013 The Irish News"},"content":{"rendered":"

The theft of assets worth \u00a3360,000 from the Northern Ireland Civil Service<\/a> over four years has been dubbed \u201cscandalous\u201d, with demands made over the response to the crimes from Stormont departments.<\/p>\n

It has emerged that since the 2022\/23 financial year, the total value of thefts reported from the civil service is at least \u00a3358,890 of assets including cash.<\/p>\n

The value of the thefts has been broken down by departments \u2013 including their arms-length bodies \u2013 with the Department of Health (DoH) by far reporting the highest value of assets stolen over the four years, at \u00a3192,812.<\/p>\n

The DoH also had the largest value of theft reported in a single year, with \u00a3114,565 in 2022\/23, and also the second highest overall, with \u00a364,060 in 2024\/25.<\/p>\n

\"Future<\/a>\"UVF<\/a><\/p>\n

The Department of Justice (DoJ) reported the lowest value of assets stolen, at \u00a313,929 over the period, and also saw the lowest theft in one year, with assets including cash worth \u00a34 stolen in 2023\/24.<\/p>\n

The figures emerged following a written question from DUP MLA Diane Forsythe on the total value of thefts reported from the civil service, under its theft and fraud process, to Stormont\u2019s finance minister John O\u2019Dowd.<\/p>\n

The full value of the stolen assets is likely to be higher, as the question was tabled before the end of the 2025\/26 financial year, the minister advised.<\/p>\n

In his answer, Mr O\u2019Dowd said \u201cno response\u201d was received from the Department for Communities (DfC) and The Executive Office on the value of their reported thefts.<\/p>\n

The Irish News has since learned from the DfC that it reported a value of \u00a315,616 stolen over the four years.<\/p>\n

Those figures have since been passed to the Department of Finance, the DfC has confirmed.<\/p>\n

The Irish News has contacted the Executive Office to request details of what assets it has reported stolen.<\/p>\n

The Department of Finance itself did not report any assets stolen over the four years.<\/p>\n

The finance minister said in his answer that the figures for all departments \u201care reflective of the position at a point in time\u201d as \u201cfraud investigations can span multiple years before being concluded\u201d.<\/p>\n

Value of thefts reported from the civil service, by department over four years<\/p>\nDepartment2025\/262024\/252023\/242023\/22<\/tr>\n\nDAERA<\/td>\n\u00a32,300<\/td>\n\u00a3975<\/td>\n\u00a337,500<\/td>\n\u00a31,038<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\nDepartment for the Economy<\/td>\n\u00a35,271<\/td>\n\u00a34,866<\/td>\n\u00a35,816<\/td>\n\u00a3479<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\nDepartment of Education<\/td>\n\u00a39,467<\/td>\n\u00a35,000<\/td>\n\u00a315,435<\/td>\n\u00a310,335<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\nDepartment of Finance<\/td>\n–<\/td>\n–<\/td>\n–<\/td>\n–<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\nDepartment of Health<\/td>\n\u00a34,725<\/td>\n\u00a364,060<\/td>\n\u00a39,462<\/td>\n\u00a3114,565<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\nDepartment for Infrastructure<\/td>\n\u00a331,598<\/td>\n\u00a313,680<\/td>\n\u00a36,079<\/td>\n\u00a32,310<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\nDepartment of Justice<\/td>\n\u00a313,780<\/td>\n–<\/td>\n\u00a34<\/td>\n\u00a3145<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\nDepartment for Communities<\/td>\n\u00a313,816.41 <\/td>\n–<\/td>\n\u00a31,800<\/td>\n–<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\nThe Executive Office<\/td>\nNo answer<\/td>\nNo answer<\/td>\nNo answer<\/td>\nNo answer<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

The chair of Stormont\u2019s Public Accounts Committee, the SDLP\u2019s Daniel McCrossan, told the Irish News: \u201cIt is scandalous that nearly \u00a3360,000 in public money and assets have been reported stolen in recent years.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis will rightly cause concern among the public. People will want to know exactly how these losses occurred, whether they involved stolen cash, equipment or other valuables and what steps have been taken to recover them. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt must also be established whether any investigations have taken place and what the outcome of those investigations was.\u201d<\/p>\n

The MLA added: \u201cWe are all aware that Executive budgets are stretched and while this may seem like a relatively minor sum in the wider context, there is a duty to protect public money and assets and ensure they are used in a way that benefits people.\u201d<\/p>\n

Diane Forsythe said the figures \u201craise serious questions about how public assets are being protected across government departments\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cTaken together, these losses amount to hundreds of thousands of pounds that could otherwise have been directed towards frontline services,\u201d the South Down MLA said.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery pound lost through theft is a pound that cannot be spent on improving healthcare, education, infrastructure or other essential public services.<\/p>\n

\u201cI will be seeking assurances that robust measures are in place to prevent future losses and that departments are learning lessons from these incidents. I also want to know how many prosecutions have taken place. The public has a right to expect that government assets and taxpayers\u2019 money are being properly safeguarded.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Irish News approached all Stormont departments that reported thefts over the four years for comment.<\/p>\n

The Head of the NI Civil Service, Jayne Brady, was also approached for comment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The theft of assets worth \u00a3360,000 from the Northern Ireland Civil Service over four years has been dubbed…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1004151,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5011],"tags":[44329,1194,1144,230810,11191,16,7913,15],"class_list":["post-1004150","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-northern-ireland","tag-alliance","tag-budget","tag-northern-ireland","tag-pa2026","tag-stormont","tag-uk","tag-ulster","tag-united-kingdom"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116690096756649755","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1004150","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1004150"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1004150\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1004151"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1004150"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1004150"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1004150"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}