Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 30 January 2013
136. Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government if he will provide details of the person who audits the accounts of local authorities; the reason that the Comptroller and Auditor General does not audit the accounts of local authorities; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [4647/13]
View answerThe Local Government Audit Service provides a professional audit service to local authorities which are funded from a number of sources including central Government grants and the provision of goods and services. Section 116 of the Local Government Act 2001 provides that local government auditors shall be independent in the exercise of their professional functions. While, in accordance with the Public Service Reform Plan, a critical review on merging the Local Government Audit Service into the Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General was initiated, the Government decided, in the context of the Action Programme for Effective Local Government, Putting People First that the Local Government Audit Service and the Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General should not be merged. Instead, the Programme puts in place new governance and accountability arrangements for local government, including the establishment of a new National Oversight and Audit Commission.
Arising from work on these matters, additional cooperation and other measures to underpin enhanced audit arrangements in local government are being pursued by the Local Government Audit Service and the Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General taking account of their separate independent statutory responsibilities and the Government’s approach in Putting People First.
