Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 31 January 2023
244. Deputy Patricia Ryan asked the Minister for Finance his plans to ensure there is no repeat of the unauthorised release of funds from the central fund of the Exchequer which took place on 28 October 2022 [3981/23]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe Secretary General and I fully accept the findings of the Comptroller and Auditor General (C&AG) report into this matter, and my Department have taken immediate steps to prevent a recurrence.
For background, the Department of Finance administers the Exchequer account (Central Fund), by issuing payment instructions to the Central Bank. Instructions must have prior authorisation from the Comptroller and Auditor General via a ‘credit’.
In December 2021, my Department put a ‘supply service credit’ in place for €53.2bn. On 28th October there was a grant of credit remaining of €1.8bn, when a payment instruction was issued that breached that limit. The grant of credit limit was not checked prior to the payment instruction being issued to the Central Bank. Furthermore, under the procedures at the time, the Central Bank did not check that sufficient credit was in place and proceeded to make the payment.
My Department fully accept that this is a serious matter, although it is important to stress that there was no error in the processing of payments, no risk of misallocated or overdrawn funds and no risk to the monies in the Exchequer account.
The C&AG was informed by the Department of the incident on the following business day, (1st of November). Subsequently, on the 3rd of November, following a request from the Minister of Finance, the C&AG issued a new supply services credit for 2022 for €14.8 billion.
At the behest of the Secretary General a report into the incident was carried out by an Assistant Secretary from outside the Division. The report made a number of recommendations, which have all now been implemented. They include:
- All staff in the section have now been made fully aware of the credits that are required during the year.
- The process used to track credits has been improved whereby all users will be warned when the grant of credit has fallen below a certain amount (€5 billion).
- Users will be prompted at the appropriate time to ensure that the ‘Vote to Complete’ credit is in place before the payment instruction is made.
- Procedures have been changed to ensure that the remaining limit on the grant of credit will accompany the payment instruction when it is sent for approval. This will take into account any other prior payment instructions issued that day.
- A report has been developed to show the current supply services grant of credit limit and its usage.
- All manuals, training and instructions have been amended to reflect these improvements.
- The introduction of a "four-eyes" principle between my Department and the Central Bank, in which credits are checked by both organisations
