The leader of the union at the centre of allegations about the misuse of €2.35m of public money used to train health workers said this weekend it was clear there was an "agenda" to discredit the union.

President of Siptu Jack O'Connor said that the union had twice requested detailed information from the HSE over claims that payments of €2.35m made to an account bearing the union's name were not supported by adequate documentation.

The union said that it never received the €2.35m from the HSE which was part of a state-backed €60m training fund set up in 2003 to upskill lower-paid health workers.

It is alleged that the money was funnelled into the "Siptu" account and was subsequently used to fund study trips to Australia, Hong Kong and the US for senior government, HSE and trade union officials.

Siptu claims that the HSE indicated that it would review Siptu's request for further information. But O'Connor pointed out that the information had since been leaked to the media detailing what the account was used for.

"I can't see any benign reason for keeping us in the dark and simultaneously leaking it to the media. That suggests an agenda," O'Connor told the Sunday Tribune.

"Withholding information doesn't help anybody to find out where the money was spent. Of course, if you don't want anyone to find out where it went, then it would be a help." The Siptu leader admitted that the innuendoes in the reports leaked to the media were "extremely damaging" to the union. "I can't imagine anything more damaging," he said.

Siptu said last week that an official of the union was the subject of an internal enquiry based on the limited information provided to the union from the HSE.