Seán Fleming (Laois, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

In order to help the Department of Education and Skills, to help us on this committee, and to help the cause of public accountability I ask that Mr. Ó Foghlú, as Secretary General, write directly to the chairman and CEO of each ETB and remind them of their statutory duty to submit their accounts to the Comptroller and Auditor General by 1 April 2018. If they are not in by then we on the committee will be on the case by the following week. That is straightforward.

Mr. Loftus just mentioned staffing. How many of the ETBs are claiming that they did not get their accounts done because the Department did not approve the filling of vacancies in administrative and financial roles? What requests has the Department received from ETBs with regard to filling staff vacancies in areas that might have had an impact on the late production of accounts?