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COMMITTEE OF PUBLIC ACCOUNTS debate -
Thursday, 25 Mar 2010

Business of Committee.

At a meeting on 18 February, a number of people were named as recipients of hospitality from FÁS. The committee has been contacted by Mr. John Walsh, a former senior official at the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment, who stated that he was not a recipient of such hospitality and that it was another Mr. John Walsh. The committee accepts the position as outlined in the correspondence received from Mr. Walsh, the former official. We never at any stage inferred that he was the recipient and we accept that it is another Mr. John Walsh.

Arising from the exploding controversy this morning regarding the Dublin Docklands Development Authority, in 2009 we wrote to the Minister, Deputy John Gormley, asking that the committee be given powers to examine the accounts of the Dublin Docklands Development Authority by extension from granting the Comptroller and Auditor General powers to look at its accounts. In a letter of response from the Minister in September, he stated he would not accede to our request, that he had appointed a new chairman of the authority who had particular expertise on corporate governance matters, and that he had already asked the new chairman to examine corporate governance within the Dublin Docklands Development Authority and to provide a report which he expected shortly. He also stated that legislation did not allow him to extend authority to the Comptroller and Auditor General and by extension to the Committee of Public Accounts. Today, we will write to the Minister, Deputy Gormley, again to reiterate our view that the Comptroller and Auditor General and the committee should have powers to examine the accounts and activities of the Dublin Docklands Development Authority in the interests of the taxpayer.

Mr. John Buckley (An tArd Reachtaire Cúntas agus Ciste) called and examined.

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