PAC to focus on accounts of Dept of Foreign Affairs and Irish Aid

Chairman of the Committee John McGuinness said: “In 2012, Irish Official Development Assistance totalled €629million. Official Development Assistance is a particularly high risk area due to the fact that once funding leaves the country, visibility can be a challenge and there are inherent risks of fraud and corruption within the system. Control systems utilised must be exceptionally robust to deal with these risks. The Department of Foreign Affairs relies on controls at three levels; firstly at the planning stage, then audit work to assess management systems in place at partner organisations and finally evaluations of project results. The Department also has an Evaluation and Audit Unit, which operates from the Department as well as internal auditors in each key partner country embassy.

“Among the issues we will address tomorrow are: the criteria which a country must meet to be included or considered as a programme country; the number of staff at the Audit and Evaluation Unit and if this is sufficient; what type of skill set does the Unit have at its disposal; how often does the Evaluation and Audit Unit review the status of evaluation reports; and how often are meetings with management held to discuss developments in relation to the agreed recommendations.

“In relation to the Department itself, one of its key expenditure programmes is promoting Ireland’s economic and trade interests in Europe and internationally. The outturn on this was €50.6 million in 2012 compared to an estimate of €60.5 million. Given the strategic importance of this goal, we will want to ascertain why expenditure on this subhead was so much under the estimate. Other issues we may address are staffing and trade. The Department had 1,260 staff members at the end of 2012 and 189 in International Co-operation and the Committee would like to determine if this number is sufficient and if the Department has the skills that it requires. We will also be interested in finding out how many trade missions were undertaken by the Department in 2012 and 2013.”

This meeting will start in Committee Room 1 at 10am on Thursday, 6th March 2014.

Committee proceedings can be followed live here. 

Committee proceedings can also be viewed on the move, through the Houses of the Oireachtas Smartphone App, available for Apple and Android devices.

Media enquiries 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,
Áine Collins
Gerald Nash,
Simon Harris,
Robert Dowds,
Mary Lou McDonald,
Sean Fleming,
Eoghan Murphy,
Derek Nolan,
Shane Ross.