asked the Minister for Finance the action that is proposed to be taken on foot of the report of the Committee of Public Accounts (Order of Dáil of 1 December, 1970).
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Committee of Public Accounts Report.
47.
There are three main recommendations in the report as follows :
Paragraph 81 (a) makes five recommendations of a miscellaneous nature. My observations on these have been recently submitted to the Committee of Public Accounts.
Paragraph 81 (b) recommends that the Minister for Finance should report to the Dáil the outcome of the efforts to recover moneys paid to an arms dealer in West Germany. The steps taken by my Department have now been concluded and I shall be making a statement to the House on this matter next month.
Paragraph 81 (c) recommends that the Government should examine the position in regard to the chain of responsibility and the question of authority in the public services and the Defence Forces. This is still under examination.
There were a number of other matters raised in paragraphs 82/88 on the problems that arose for the committee during their examination of the grant-in-aid expenditure. The committee felt that the Dáil should decide on an appropriate method of operation for committees of this kind under the Constitution. This would appear to be a matter for the Committee on Procedure and Privileges to look at in due course.
Does the Minister's reply imply that there will be an opportunity in this House for Members to discuss and debate this report? This House requested and ordered this report and surely it is not in the newspaper that it should be discussed. This House, to whom this was reported, should have the opportunity of discussing it.
As I have already stated, I will be making a statement to the House next month and then it will be a matter for the House to decide what action it wants to take.
The remaining questions will appear on tomorrow's Order Paper.