Written Answers. - Controls Governing Garda Expenses.
Liz McManus
Question:
39
Ms McManus
asked the
Minister for Justice
the steps, if any, she intends to take to deal with the weakness in the controls governing the payment of Garda expenses identified in the report of the Comptroller and Auditor General for 1992.
I want to assure the House that a number of measures have already been taken in regard to this matter, some of which were planned in advance of the publication of the Comptroller and Auditor General's report on the 1992 Appropriation Accounts.
These measures include the introduction, in February, 1994, of a new computerised payment system to process travel and subsistence expense claims, called the Financial Management System. This system, which involves opening a separate account for each individual claimant, will generate payments, provide financial reports and apply controls which were not possible to the same extent under the previous semi-manual system. For example, a weekly list showing all outstanding advances will be printed and a record of the amount of any outstanding advance will be produced by the system each time a claim for payment is processed. This will ensure that outstanding advances are identified and the necessary action taken to ensure that a claim in respect of travel or subsistence expenses in lodged to offset any advance made.
Provision has been made in the application form for advance payments, authorising the Accountant to make deductions from salary if a claim is not lodged within one month of receipt of the advance. It is intended to pursue this procedure more vigorously than was heretofore possible.
With regard to existing outstanding travel and subsistence advances which were mentioned in the C&AG's report, a special unit has been established within the Finance Division of my Department to rectify this situation. This unit has made good progress since it was established in March last year and has succeeded in significantly reducing the number of outstanding advances on the Garda Vote. The unit is continuing its efforts to improve the position and I expect that it will have brought the situation up-to-date by the end of the year.
One point that is worth explaining, in case there is any misunderstanding about it, is that the existence of outstanding travel and subsistence advances does not mean that the Exchequer is out of pocket, so to speak, in respect of the amount involved, or that the gardaí are enjoying free loans. All it means is that the gardaí — who in many cases are owed money by the State, rather than the other way around — have not brought their expenses claims up to date. I would like to assure the House that the introduction of the new computerised Financial Management System and the other measures which I have outlined will ensure that there should be no recurrence of the problems relating to the internal controls on the Garda Vote which were referred to in the C&AG's report for 1992.
