Departmental Expenditure

Dáil Éireann Debate, Friday - 16 September 2016

Friday, 16 September 2016

Questions (41)

Dara Calleary

Question:

41. Deputy Dara Calleary asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the number of credit cards issued to staff working in any third party agency funded by her Department, in tabular form; the number of cards per funded agency; the amount spent by credit card in 2014 and 2015 by each agency; the controls in place to monitor the issuing of and the expenditure on these cards; the controls in place in each agency to monitor expenditure on credit card bills that are subsequently used to recoup work related expense; if these controls are being reviewed in view of recent events in agencies funded by the HSE; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [24776/16]

Written answers

Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality

On an annual basis, my Department provides funding to approximately 300 third party non governmental bodies.

In terms of gaining assurance on the control environment operating within these bodies, It has not been the practice to require internal operational details at a level requested by the Deputy. Instead my Department relies to a large extent on independent external audit assurance that satisfactory internal controls are in place over the probity of transactions and conducts its own audits on a rotating basis. This ensures that the requirements of the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform's Circular 13 of 2014 "Management of and Accountability for Grants from Exchequer Funds" are implemented to the fullest extent. In addition to the existing safeguards, my Department is currently examining the potential for additional measures to strengthen governance procedures in relation to such third party bodies.