Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Department certainly does all it can to identify where tax money is allocated, what it is spent on and how it is spent. It works with all Departments on this matter. With regard to changes, I remember serving with the Chairman on the Committee on Public Accounts and the questions I could not get answered. Perhaps I now have a deeper understanding of some of these matters and the constraints on people when they answer such questions. If we were to look at changes we have made to try to deal with some of the issues to which the Chairman referred, we recently launched a Government service of economists. We have tried to bring together a group of economists, located in the Department, to provide me as Minister and the public a better economic appraisal of services we deliver. We have also just launched a new code of practice for semi-State governance.

I did this during the summer. My expectation is that all semi-State bodies will have implemented it by next year and that it will be rolled out across all bodies.

The accounts of semi-State bodies are audited in accordance with company and commercial law. In nearly all cases, regardless of whether accounts are subject to scrutiny by the Comptroller and Auditor General, they are published. I do not, respectfully, accept that there has been any attempt on the part of this or any previous Government to turn a blind eye to how money is spent. We try to adopt the clearest stance we can on matters that are raised, but people can remain dissatisfied with they service they receive, be it in the school transport system or any other area. Even if we can provide a good reason a service is not being provided, it will never be a substitute for the service not being delivered.