Vol. 454 No. 2
28 Mr. B. O'Keeffe asked the Minister for Justice if she is concerned that the Comptroller and Auditor General has no power to deal with matters which come under the auspices of the courts, even where public moneys are involved. [8618/95]
The Constitution provides that there shall be a Comptroller and Auditor General to control on behalf of the State all disbursements and to audit all accounts of moneys administered by or under the authority of the Oireachtas and that the terms and conditions of the Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General shall de determined by law.
Under the Comptroller and Auditor General (Amendment) Act, 1993, the Comptroller and Auditor General is empowered to perform the audit of accounts of moneys administered by or under the control of the Oireachtas. Such moneys would include the amounts provided by the Oireachtas each year of the salaries of judges and courts staff and the administration of the courts but the advice available to me is that it would not include moneys held in trust by the courts for minors and wards of court and so on on.
The courts, which are, under the Constitution, independent in the exercise of their judicial functions and subject only to the Constitution and the law, are responsible for the administration of these moneys.
