Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I am disappointed to have to say this, but while I understand it was some years ago, I am very disappointed that the audits conducted by the Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General in 2006, 2007 and 2008 did not pick up on these issues.

We have Waterford Institute of Technology here today to answer questions on what went on in those years. Now, however, we find that the taxpayers' watchdog audited the accounts, but did not pick up on what was going on. That is serious. I understand that Mr. McCarthy has said that following the 2009 audit they started developing a programme to catch these issues. However, this committee must ask what has not been picked up last year and this year or what will not be picked up next year and whether a programme will be developed to pick up on those things in five years time when the Committee of Public Accounts of the next Dáil is examining these issues. Will they say then, "We used not look at those things in those years, but we have now developed a programme for them"?

Public confidence in the annual audit process of the Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General has been dented somewhat by this. I am happy the office has done a special report and has caught up on these issues, although late in the day. However, we and the public generally take some comfort from the fact that the office conducts an audit and finds no major issues, but now, three or four years after the audit, we are told the office did not look specifically at the issues but now as a result of what happened with FÁS, it is looking at them. It will be something else in another couple of years. Where does Mr. McCarthy think the risks are for the audits just completed and published in the report today? Perhaps he did not have a programme to examine specific issues he may feel in three years time he should have examined. My confidence in the office is dented somewhat now as a result of what I have heard here today.