Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

One other thing, €68 million is a fantastic budget. It is a big budget and it comes with heavy responsibilities the Arts Council obviously takes seriously. Interestingly, it was asked of me would it be a good idea for the chairperson of the council to have the same duties as an Accounting Officer with regards to the disposal of funding so that he or she would be considered an Accounting Officer in the eyes of the Comptroller and Auditor General, the Committee of Public Accounts, etc. It is a good chunk of funding and maybe there would be greater scope for the House to tease out how moneys are spent.