Mr. Seamus McCarthy:

The Government has decided in the context of reform of local government to put in place an alternative system for looking at system-wide issues in the local government sector. That decision having been made, the proposal to merge the Local Government Audit Service into the Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General does not now arise. There are no proposals to change my mandate on the audit of central government funds spent locally. We have reported on that spending to the extent that current legislation allows, and I intend to keep a focus on central government funding spent at local level. Including the responsibilities of the Department in the oversight of that spend. Clearly, policy matters are not something I would get into.