asked the Minister for Finance the cost to date of the inquiry by the Public Accounts Committee into the £100,000 for Northern relief.
21.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Northern Relief Inquiry.
20.
asked the Minister for Finance (i) the cost to date of the Public Accounts Committee inquiry; (ii) the number of staff engaged part-time and/or wholetime on the work of the inquiry; and (iii) what number of staff, for what further period and at what additional cost is being provided to help the Public Accounts Committee to finish the job.
With your permission, a Cheann Comhairle, I propose to take Questions Nos. 20 and 21 together.
The cost to date of the inquiry by the Public Accounts Committee into the expenditure of the Grant-in-Aid for Northern Ireland Relief is £17,250.
Three members of the staff of the Houses of the Oireachtas are engaged full-time on this work. Various other members of the Oireachtas staff have given services to the committee as part of their normal duties. In addition, the services of outside personnel have been engaged for reporting and sub-editing work as required. The cost of the latter has been included in the figure I have given.
I cannot answer (3) of Deputy Blaney's question as it is a matter solely for the committee to decide what further time and staff they may need to complete their task.
Has the Minister received any indication as to when the report is likely to be published?
No.
Since the State, through the Department of Finance, have provided the staff and the cost of staff to the committee, surely it would be the normal procedure that if staff are to be provided and costs incurred during the coming financial year, the Department would have to have some guideline from the committee as to their likely needs. In other words, how many staff will be required and for how long?
It is not possible for the Department of Finance to estimate this nor is it possible for them to try to impose any limitation on a committee of this House. Therefore, the position is as I have stated.
Surely the Minister will agree that it is not the practice of his Department in relation to any public expenditure to accept an open-ended situation such as this without making any inquiry from the people concerned as to how much money they will need and in what manner they propose to spend it. I would have expected that in this situation there would have been such a request. Therefore, can the Minister say what are likely to be the needs of the Committee in this respect and the reasons for their requirements?
The position is as I have stated. I cannot say when this inquiry is likely to be completed. The procedure being followed by my Department in this regard is that which is followed in respect of the committee each year in their normal operations. It is not possible for my Department either to estimate this or to have any control over the operations of a committee of this House.
I am not suggesting——
I am calling Question No. 22. We cannot discuss this one question all evening.
——that the Minister could make any calculations. I did not ask when a report would be available. My question relates to the provision of money and staff for the completion of the job. Surely the committee would have been asked by the Department of Finance to indicate what staff and finance they would need and for how long.
I could not say that offhand, but the Deputy will appreciate that he does ask for what further period and at what additional cost the staff have been provided to help the Public Accounts Committee to finish the job. As I have explained, we do not know how long it will take. Therefore, I cannot answer that part of the question. The question as to how long it will take is one that will be determined by the committee. Not being in the position to know the length of time, we cannot estimate the cost.
Question No. 22. We cannot debate this question all evening.
Has the Minister asked the committee?
I do not know. I could not say offhand. We do not know how long it will take.
I put it to the Minister that this expenditure of £120,000 will go down in the history of State expenditure in this country as the most unique contribution to the North.
I am calling the next question. Question No. 22.