Seán Fleming (Laois, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank Dr. Browne. Before I call Deputy Catherine Connolly, the witnesses from the National University of Ireland Galway are the third group of witnesses to appear before the committee. They were preceded by representatives from Waterford Institute of Technology and Dublin Institute of Technology. The witnesses may have heard me express great displeasure at being presented with accounts covering the period 2013-14. The committee takes the view that it is not acceptable for third level institutions to present accounts from such a long time ago. Members were almost of the opinion this morning that the committee was wasting its time discussing such old accounts. In any event, given the importance of the issues to be discussed, we proceeded with our deliberations.

As I indicated to the representatives of the other institutions, the committee is insisting that the financial accounts for the financial year ending in the summer of 2016 be completed by the end of June 2017 and be ready for audit on 1 July. We are also asking that the Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General have the accounts audited before the committee resumes its meetings in September 2017. We are asking third level institutions to have their accounts ready approximately 12 months after the end of the financial year, not within three, four or five months. It is outrageous that accounts from two or three years ago are being presented to the committee. We are not doing our duty in discussing issues dating back three or four years. We also want the Department and the Higher Education Authority to insist that financial statements are presented in the manner we have proposed. We do not understand how organisations can obtain funding in the annual Estimates process when they have not presented their accounts for the previous year or even two years. Dr. Browne gets my point.