Refugee centres spent €12m on interim managers and advisors

Some interim managers at the refugee centre organisation COA were earning over €300,000 a year and the total bill for external staff reached €12m between 2004 and now, according to a letter from acting director Harry Paul, which is in the hands of Nos television.


Paul has taken over from Nurten Albayrak who was suspended because of concerns about her management style and own pay package.
Since 2004, 37 interim advisors and managers have been taken on by the organisation, one of whom has worked for the company for seven years, earning more than €2m.
Employment experts told Nos the total bill for external staff is not excessive, given total personnel costs of €127m. However, people should not work as interims for such long periods, the experts said.
Repairs
Other information about events at the COA leaked by the Nos over the weekend show too much was spent on repairs and maintenance.
An internal COA investigation showed that once the decision was taken to run the maintenance of refugee centres centrally, the costs soared by up to 65%. This was ‘exorbitant and unacceptable’, the organisation said.
At one point, all maintenance was in the hands of a single company. This meant jobs which used to be done on site by the local staff cost hundreds of euros more, other sources told Nos. In one case, a €2.95 box of screws ended up costing €77.95.

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