Vol. 408 No. 8
4 Mr. G. Mitchell asked the Minister for Finance if he will consider appointing accounting officers to State agencies such as An Bord Pleanála and the Independent Broadcasting Commission so that parliamentary accountability for moneys spent will be forthcoming.
As the Deputy will be aware, the traditional practice in regard to the appointing of accounting officers has been that, for each Vote, an accounting officer is appointed by me to account to the Dáil for expenditure from the Vote. Extending the practice to non-commercial State bodies such as those mentioned by the Deputy is one of the matters which is being examined by my Department in the context of proposals in regard to the modernisation of the role of the Comptroller and Auditor General and related matters.
I am pleased to hear that the Minister is considering this matter. It is one thing to give boards, such as An Bord Pleanala and the Independent Broadcasting Commission, independence when established but it is another to leave them accountable to no one. I ask the Minister to take this into account in arriving at decisions. Second, there is a precedent in the National Treasury Management Agency Act which was suggested by me and the Committee of Public Accounts and magnanimously included by the Minister when the Bill passed through the House.
It is true that this area is governed by statutes dating from 1866 and has not been touched since then. I am hopeful that the proposals I intend putting forward to Government will be considered at the earliest possible moment. With regard to the precedent in the National Treasury Management Agency Act, 1990, it was agreed that section 12 (2) of that Act would provide that the chief executive of the agency shall be accountable for the accounts of the agency for the purposes of the Exchequer and Audit Department Acts, 1866 and 1921, under which accounting officers are appointed. This agency is closely linked with my own Department in the exercise of their functions. It was provided for on a statutory basis and, consequently, the Deputy's question is bound up with the question of the future role of the Comptroller and Auditor General.
