Patrick O'Donovan (Limerick, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Would that not be down to the institutions? As the Comptroller and Auditor General said at the start - I am paraphrasing him - the vast majority of the universities have external auditors.

The Higher Education Authority, HEA, does not have an audit function but it has a responsibility to ensure the money voted from the Oireachtas goes to the purpose for which it was intended. The Comptroller and Auditor General's role is retrospective. Surely the HEA should be taking a more proactive role? There is €1.2 billion going out from these Houses to third level institutes, one of which cannot produce a certified set of accounts for five years, yet nobody, until the Comptroller and Auditor General wrote his report, thought this was a problem.