Mr. Seamus McCarthy:

There is a circular from the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform with instructions that accounts are to be laid promptly after they have been certified by me. The expectation is that it would be three or four months, maximum. That would include where the accounts would have to be noted by Government, perhaps, before they are submitted to the Oireachtas. The expectation in the circular is that if an organisation expects to be late in laying the accounts, it would tell the clerk of the Committee of Public Accounts, because the Committee of Public Accounts has an interest. That circular was issued early last year, so it is beginning to have an effect and we can see that with the public trustee account, which had not been laid as a matter of course. There are no penalties involved in it. It is a standard that is expected and the committee or the clerk can take it up with any body that is late and require an explanation.