Mr. Brian Purcell:

I propose to keep my opening remarks brief in the interests of making the best use of members' time. My remit as Accounting Officer is very broad. There are in the region of 60 subheads in the justice Vote, covering a range of offices and agencies across the criminal justice sector, including the areas of immigration, commissions, equality and disability. I am also the Accounting Officer for the prisons Vote.

In my role as Accounting Officer, I acknowledge the contribution of the Department's audit committee in ensuring that there is a strong system of internal controls in place. The committee is comprised of four external members and one departmental representative. The chair is external and independent of the Department. The committee is supported by an internal audit unit. This unit functions through its audit work programme and provides assurance that there are effective financial and other controls in place. In 2011, 24 audit reports were completed and the corresponding figure in 2012 was 26. In a Department with as wide a remit as that of the Department of Justice and Equality, which comprises over 60 individual subheads and a large number of offices and agencies, such audit assurance is crucially important to me in my role as Accounting Officer. In addition, given the range and breadth of offices and agencies under the justice Vote, it is very important to have a strong governance structure in place. This is not to say that we want to stifle or restrict in any way the functions of any of the offices and agencies a number of which are established on a statutory basis. However, I firmly believe that strong oversight is important to ensure the highest standards of financial control and that value for money is obtained from the expenditure in the justice and equality Vote. This is something I have continued to build on since my appointment as Secretary General in August 2011.

A key feature of the governance structure within the Department is that each office and agency attached to the justice and equality Vote, while operating according to its legislative status and its own business plan and objectives, is accountable to the central Department in terms of budgets and expenditure. In short, with just a couple of exceptions, all the expenditure in the justice and equality Vote is managed through a central accounting system in the Department's financial services centre in Killarney. The same rules and regulations apply to procurement and expenditure across the Department, irrespective of the office or agency involved.

Turning specifically to the report of the Comptroller and Auditor General in respect of the lease of accommodation for a Probation Service project in Wolfe Tone Street, Dublin, I have found it very frustrating that a building which was acquired under a 25-year lease and fitted out to the standard required for use by the Probation Service cannot now be used for the purpose intended. However, I have been advised by the Attorney General's office that this matter remains live and in dispute and that proceedings have now issued in this case. I have also been advised that notwithstanding the publication of chapter 15 of the Comptroller General's annual report for 2011, it is entirely foreseeable that any further discussion of, or comment on, the facts of this matter as set out in that chapter could, in effect, reveal our hand to the other parties in the proceedings, thereby prejudicing the prospect of the State successfully recovering all the damages it is seeking. I will, of course, try to answer any questions raised by the committee within these constraints.