I move:—
That the Committee of Public Accounts, to be appointed in pursuance of Standing Order No. 123 at the beginning of the financial year 1958-59, be, notwithstanding the said Standing Order, now appointed, and that the members of the committee be nominated by the Committee of Selection;
That the committee have power to send for persons, papers and records;
That the Appropriation Accounts, with the report of the Comptroller and Auditor-General for the year ended 31st March, 1957, be referred to the committee for examination and report.
Standing Order No. 123 of the Standing Order of Dáil Éireann relative to Public Business provides that there shall be appointed, at the beginning of each financial year, a Select Committee to be designated "the Committee of Public Accounts" and assigns certain duties to the committee.
In the past the general practice has been to set up the committee as soon after the commencement of the financial year as the Appropriation Accounts next due for publication were available. Generally, the report of the committee was presented to the Dáil about two years after the close of the financial year to which the report refers.
There has recently been a move by the Department of Finance to have the Appropriation Accounts for each financial year issued as soon as possible after the close of that year and, in pursuance of that policy, the Accounts for the financial year 1956-57 are now available. The Committee of Public Accounts on the Appropriation Accounts for 1955-56 completed its work and reported on 19th February, 1958.
Accordingly, it is felt that rather than wait for the reassembly of the Dáil after the Easter Recess, the Committee of Public Accounts for the coming financial year should be set up now and work commenced on the 1956-57 Appropriation Accounts.
A similar procedure was adopted in 1939 when the committee for the year 1939-40 was set up on the 22nd February, 1939—over five weeks before the close of the preceding financial year—and again in 1940 when the committee for the year 1940-41 was set up on 1st March, 1940—over four weeks before the close of the preceeding financial year.
