David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

No. The second issue relates to learnings, which are very important. Whether the mistakes are of the funded organisations or the HSE, mistakes must be learned from. In terms of lessons learned, what changes were made in practices, policies and procedures? That is what I want to establish.

There is a table on the screen which shows the 19 audited reports which framed the basis of the previous table which generalised the areas of concern. The types of issues identified by internal audit are a high number of bank accounts, incomplete accounting records, transactions not authorised at appropriate levels, expenditure on gifts and entertainment, poor audit trails over credit card expenditure, absence of policies and procedure regarding conflicts of interest of board members and confidential disclosures, board members not completing Standards in Public Office Commission, SIPO, returns, salary payments in excess of the Department of Expenditure and Public Reform pay scales, senior staff in receipt of allowances and round-sum payments, staff in receipt of bonus payments, procurement issues including contracts awarded without competitive procurement processes, and documentary evidence not retained for the awarding of contracts. When I look at all of that, the similarities to Templemore jump out at me. There were high numbers of bank accounts, incomplete accounting records, unauthorised transactions, and expenditure on gifts and entertainment. It strikes me that this is something that should concern us.

We then look at the 19 different organisations. I refer the witness to item No. 8.

The witness breaks the areas of concern down into five broad headings with subheadings. For Console they are 1b and c, and 2a and b. Almost all fall foul of the areas of concern but they are not the only ones. Some have not appeared on our radar and I am trying to understand or establish what the issues are in these organisations and what corrective action has been taken. The concerns raised about the Catholic Institute for Deaf People are a high number of bank accounts, incomplete accounting records, absence of financial procedures and controls, expenditure on gifts and entertainment, poor audit trails over credit card expenditure, salary payments in excess of approved pay scales, senior staff in receipt of allowances and lump sum payments, staff in receipt of bonus payments and contracts awarded without competitive procurement. That is just one example. What is this organisation? How many people does it employ? What level of funding does it get from the HSE?