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

This is the fourth time it has happened in the past few months. The week before the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland comes in to meet us, at the end of April 2013, we receive the 2011 accounts. The 2012 financial year has long since passed and the accounts have been prepared. The accounts may not have been signed off by the auditor and the audit may not have been commenced or completed. I find this most unhelpful to the committee. It has happened previously that one hour after visitors left the meeting, they published their accounts for the 12 months prior to the year we were discussing. I refer to the idea of an organisation lodging accounts with the Oireachtas immediately before appearing before the committee, when the accounts are 16 months old. We need to see the accounts for 2012, even if they are not audited. They should have been presented to us in draft form so we can have a meaningful discussion. We are continually given the runaround by State agencies and this is the fourth time I have raised this exact point. It is clear that the financial year has come and gone since the accounts were lodged in the Oireachtas but we do not have the accounts. What is the point in discussing something such as this? The accounts cover a period between 28 and 16 months ago. We are discussing information that is 28 months old, from January 2011.

We should deal with it as part of the work programme. Organisations have a vested interest in not providing us with up-to-date information. Perhaps it is carelessness or the way the public service works to give people information that is 28 months old. As part of our work programme, when inviting any State agency to appear before the committee, we should know the last accounts available to us, whether the subsequent year-end has been completed and where the accounts are for that year, even in draft format. Normally, accounts produced by large reputable organisations produced or prepared for audit should be very close to the final figures at the end of the audit. We should log this in our programme from now on. We are chasing history at this stage.