Seán Fleming (Laois, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Before engaging with the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, I wish to address a question to the Comptroller and Auditor General. People might be surprised. Mr. McCarthy stated that, although the Department's Vote was essentially €1.26 billion, the Department "was also the accredited paying agency for additional EU payments amounting to just under €1.5 billion for 2015." Those payments were accounted for separately from the Vote and are summarised under miscellaneous in note 6.1 to the account. Where are these payments accounted for? I would have expected the €1.5 billion to form part of today's work. The Department is the paying agency for these EU payments, but take me through the process. What is before us today is just the Department's own Vote, which excludes the €1.5 billion in payments to farmers. Who audits the accounting of these payments and when is that presented to the committee? Logically, should it not have formed part of today's work?