10 Jul 2013, 14:58
Secretary General at the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform Robert Watt will be before the Committee of Public Accounts tomorrow, Thursday 11th July 2013.
Committee Chairman John McGuinness TD said: “The Appropriation Accounts for 2011 of the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform are on the agenda as well as the accounts of Vote 7, Superannuation and Retired Allowance, for which Mr Watt is the Accounting Officer. The Committee will also focus on three Chapters from the 2011 C&AG Annual Report: Chapter 6, Public Private Partnerships (PPPs); Chapter 12, Vote Accounting which is an overview of appropriations for 2011; and Chapter 13, Procurement without a Competitive Process.
“The Department has responsibility for PPP policy and how the relevant funds available are allocated across each area of Government spending. The Committee will be keen to establish if the constraint of lack of available finance has now been resolved to some extent by the Government’s stimulus package and if it is sufficient to restart the PPP market. Other issues we may deal with are efforts by the Department to deal with the lack of active international contractors in the Irish market and how can high bid costs be tackled.
“Chapter 13 focuses on the exceptions to public procurement rules, which are allowed in limited circumstances and the extent to which they arise. The C&AG stated in his conclusions that there continues to be substantial levels of procurement by Government Department and offices without the use of competitive processes. We will want to know if this is still the case and what the Department plans on doing to improve the situation.”
This meeting will take place in Committee Room 1 at 10am tomorrow, Thursday, 11th July 2013.
Committee proceedings can be followed here.
Media enquires to:
Ciaran Brennan,
Houses of the Oireachtas,
Communications Unit,
Leinster House,
Dublin 2
P: +3531 618 3903
M: 086-0496518
F: +3531 618 4551
Committee of Public Accounts Membership
John McGuinness (Chairman)
Kieran O’Donnell (Vice Chairman)
Paul J Connaughton,
John Deasy,
Paschal Donohoe,
Gerald Nash,
Simon Harris,
Michael McCarthy,
Mary Lou McDonald,
Sean Fleming,
Eoghan Murphy,
Derek Nolan,
Shane Ross.