Seán Fleming (Laois, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

This means 87% of public bodies have submitted their accounts, which is a major improvement on last year, as a result of us highlighting that issue. Only 13% have not done so. The sector of public bodies in Ireland that was most in arrears last year and all previous years was the education sector and the education and training boards. Last year, only one submitted its accounts on time. This year every single one of them had its accounts in on time. This is as a result of our public hearings with the education and training boards. There has been a dramatic improvement in the third level education sector.

To emphasise the point, we stated that when we came to this point, we would write to each one of the 37 bodies asking for an immediate explanation as to why their accounts have not been submitted for audit. We also stated we would bring in a number of the organisations, be it the chairman of the board or the chief executive, for a brief meeting to explain why they are not meeting their statutory obligations. There is a list in front of members and to speed it up, I suggest we invite in five or six. We will have a separate-----