Mr. Seamus McCarthy:

The reason is that the Central Bank is a listed entity in the second Schedule of the Comptroller and Auditor General (Amendment) Act of 1993. As a result, it is excluded generally from examination by the Committee of Public Accounts. There is, however, under the 1997 or 1998 Act, provision for me to carry out a value for money examination of the Central Bank's activities. Previously, the only time we did this was when we reported on the Financial Regulator. We have done a report on three occasions and the Financial Regulator of the day has appeared before the committee.