Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 17 May 2017
85. Deputy Catherine Murphy asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the number of ministerial permissions her Department has given to members of An Garda Síochána to open bank accounts for official purposes in the past 20 years, in tabular form; the reason for the account opening and the year; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [23368/17]
View answerThe information requested by the Deputy spans a large period of time and arrangements are in train in my Department to prepare a response. I will revert to the Deputy when the specific information is to hand.
The following deferred reply was received under Standing Order 42A
I refer to Parliamentary Question No. 85 for answer on 17th May 2017 in which you requested details of the number of ministerial permissions my Department gave to members of An Garda Síochána to open official bank accounts in the past 20 years.
Prior to the commencement of section 29 of the Garda Síochána Act 2005, the Secretary General of the Department of Justice and Equality was the Accounting Officer for the Garda Vote. In the context of the opening of bank accounts for An Garda Síochána, such accounts are considered to be "public bank accounts" under section 18 of the Exchequer and Audit Departments Act 1866. The effect of that section is that the Minister for Finance (now Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform) would sanction the opening of such accounts. Requests for sanction to open such accounts would be sent by An Garda Síochána to the Department of Justice in the first instance. The Department would forward the request to the Department of Finance with a recommendation of approval for the account.
You will be aware from Parliamentary Question No. 179 of 17 May 2017 that the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, in the course of a reconciliation exercise undertaken across Vote areas in relation to public bank accounts, issued sanctions for some 113 public bank accounts for An Garda Síochána since 2011. These accounts had been in existence for some time but, owing to the elapse of time and file archiving practices, reconfirmation of the sanction was required by An Garda Síochána. In addition, I understand that, in the period 1997 to 2011, sanction was received from the Department of Finance on 13 occasions to open public bank accounts in the name of An Garda Síochána.
With the commencement of section 29 of the Garda Síochána Act 2005 on 14 July 2006, the Garda Commissioner was enabled to "operate in the State or elsewhere bank accounts of any description". However, the prior consent of the Minister for Justice and the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform is required before any such accounts can be opened and operated. Since the commencement of the section, no requests for Ministerial consent have been received in the Department and no consents have issued.
Circular 16 of 2014 issued by the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform sets out the procedures to be followed in relation to public bank accounts. Having regard to the requirement for dual ministerial consents under section 29 of the 2005 Act, requests from An Garda Síochána for such accounts to be opened must be submitted to the Department in the first instance.
I trust that the above is of assistance.
