SIPTU President Jack O'Connor has said that the €348,000 the union has set aside to cover potential liabilities arising from a controversial expense account is being perceived as accepting liability and said that this is not the case.
Mr O'Connor said the money will not now be used to reimburse the HSE.
He added that if it transpires at the end of the various investigations into the account that the money was not properly vouched for, the matter would be addressed so that taxpayers do not lose out.
He also said that the amount of public money in the account does not exceed that in the public domain, based on information he had received from those conducting a union investigation into the matter.
It is now believed that around €4m was lodged into the account - more than €2.3 from the HSE, €790,000 from the local authority partnership body, and €925,000 from the Health Service National Partnership Forum.
SIPTU has consistently denied that it had any role in or knowledge of the bank account through which controversial SKILL funds were managed - although the account bore its name, and the signatories were SIPTU members.
A SIPTU investigation is due to be completed in three weeks, the findings of which Mr O'Connor said would be published in full unless the gardaí requested otherwise.
