A €4m project to redevelop a Famine workhouse in Co Tipperary is in danger of never being completed, according to a newspaper report.

An audit is currently underway to attempt to discover how the Tipperary Hostel Project ran out of cash halfway through construction, reports the Irish Independent.

The scheme, which was funded by the taxpayer, has been wound down with the last of the site's 23 workers being laid off on Friday. The project now hangs in the balance as the workers launch court proceedings to secure a better redundancy package.

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The building was being renovated to turn it into self-catering accommodation for tourists and it is unclear how much public money has been spent on the venture to date.

Pobal, a charity that manages funding programmes on behalf of the Irish Government, has carried out an audit of the project and sent it to the organisers in Tipperary.

A spokesperson for Pobal said it was "awaiting a response".

The probe was sparked after Tipperary Hostel Ltd's own auditors, Mulcahy, O'Neill, Fitzgerald and Co, told the board they would not be able to sign off on last year's accounts.

They found that €44,239 had been incorrectly claimed from Pobal.

According to the Independent report, a spokesman for the construction workers said they would be holding a meeting this evening (Monday) to process paperwork for their court action to secure better redundancy.

NS