Economy

C&AG Annual Report Raises Many Issues for Public Accounts Committee to Scrutinise






15th Sept 2010



The Report on the Accounts of the Public Service for 2009 published today by the Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General has highlighted several significant areas where the State may not be receiving the best value for money.



Over the course of the upcoming parliamentary session, the D il Public Accounts Committee (PAC) intends to closely probe the findings of this report in order to establish why, in some instances, value for money was not achieved and how in future, improved procedures should be put in place to ensure a better return for the State’s investment



Committee Chairman, Bernard Allen TD said;

“The Committee welcomes the publication of the C&AG’s report today. It draws attention to situations in which public money may not have been prudently spent and where practices in State bodies and departments were lax.



During the coming months, the Committee will call witnesses to the Committee from the relevant State bodies and agencies identified in the report to get responses concerning the findings of the report and to find out how they intend to address the matters raised.



In particular the Committee will prioritise areas such as;



The escalating cost of bank stabilisation measures in particular relation to Anglo and Irish Nationwide Building Society.

The delays in winding down or amalgamating quangos arising from Government decisions.

The cost of decentralisation, including what can only be described as waste or nugatory expenditure on this programme.

The exorbitant cost of farm inspections.

The issue of measuring those waiting for in-patient procedures and out-patient appointments in our public hospitals.

The use of public money to enable some officials to travel on loosely defined fact finding missions to places such as Hong Kong, Australia and Los Angeles under a skills programme operated by SIPTU as part of an agreement with the Department of Health and Children.



The Committee will also be returning to the issue of tax write-offs and social welfare overpayments. Both of these topics feature in the Report and we will want to establish what controls are being introduced to lower the cost to the taxpayer on these items.



In addition to the Report published today, the Committee will examine a number of special reports due to be published by the C&AG, including those on universities, NAMA and the Dublin Docklands Authority.



We will resume public sessions on Thursday, 23rd September when the Heads of the seven Universities will give evidence on the Special Report of the C&AG which will be published on Friday. The Committee has also agreed to call the new CEO of the HSE, Cathal Magee and the Accounting Officer of the Department of Health and Children, Michael Scanlon to attend a meeting on 7th October, 2010 to deal with issues arising from expenditure on the SIPTU skills programme.”