Victor Boyhan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I wish Michael McCarthy well and congratulate him on what is ultimately a nomination by the Minister. I want to be clear that this is not an interview process and I thank him for coming in and sharing with us his hopes, aspirations and plans for NOAC.

I take the view that before every meeting of the Joint Committee on Housing Planning and Local Government I notify councillors around the country of all groups and none on what is going on and the agenda. I told them yesterday that Mr. McCarthy would be coming here and I did some research on NOAC. It was interesting to me that within 20 minutes I had seven emails. I will not talk about the councillors' questions but they came back immediately from Fingal, Kildare, Dublin City Council, Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown twice, Kildare again and then Waterford. The gist of those emails was that some of them did not fully understand what NOAC is about and what its functions are. A common and recurring theme was that it has no teeth, it is a public relations, PR, exercise, and that it is commissioning reports with only 100 people surveyed so it cannot be accurate. Those are just some of the criticisms. Someone correctly suggested that NOAC picked ten of the largest sitting local authorities out of the 31 local authorities, and Mr. McCarthy would know about all of that.

One of the challenges for NOAC is to explain its role more. It has completed 18 reports so far and some of them are very well done, but what is happening behind that? NOAC carried out a major survey on the subsidiary companies of local authorities and we have a plethora of subsidiary companies across the 31 local authorities, of which serious questions must be asked about their corporate governance and, more importantly, about their impact on local authorities, where the authorities are finding themselves having to give letters and guarantees in terms of funding to prop up some of these companies. I would go as far as to say that some of these companies are not viable if not totally insolvent. They are only trading on the basis of letters of guarantee and backup. They vary from property companies to other companies involved in sports, leisure and recreation, but I am more concerned about the property companies. I have had a look at the accounts of some of these property companies and there are serious questions about them.

My concern is, and NOAC's concern should be, the impact this will have on the taxpayer and the local authorities and the deficit in corporate governance from the elected members. If there are council nominees, their duty of care would be to the corporate affairs of the company, but if they are elected members as well then there is a conflict. Mr. McCarthy's predecessor identified these issues in a recent report and I appeal to Mr. McCarthy to look at the reports that NOAC has done, without looking to do more reports, and examine how NOAC can act on the impact of those reports after six or eight months. There are serious concerns and NOAC has done good work. It may require further legislation and that is a matter for Mr. McCarthy, his board and colleagues and his contacts with the Department and the Minister. I suggest that he looks at a closer synergy and a greater relationship with the Local Government Audit Service.

Another deficit coming from these emails that I wish to raise, even though I acknowledge and appreciate that it is not Mr. McCarthy's direct responsibility, is the audit committees and their relationship with the greater local authorities.

If Mr. McCarthy is sending a report on the NOAC, he should write to the cathaoirleach of each local authority to ask to have it put on the agenda because sometimes it is all about communication. The NOAC is doing good work and if information is being sent to a city or county manager - the chief executive as he or she is now called - I am not convinced that it is filtering down. For instance, a number of members of local authorities contacted me to say they had not seen the NOAC's audit report. The challenge must be to have greater engagement with elected members to explain the NOAC's role and functions. That might mean a road show for Mr. McCarthy throughout the country to explain them to them and encourage them as major stakeholders in ensuring good local governance. It is a two-way street. It involves not just the executive but also the elected members. If anything, there is a deficit in that regard.

I wish Mr. McCarthy well. I am aware of his experience. I took some time yesterday to look him up. I am aware that he is committed to assisting local authorities. I am confident that he has the necessary skills and hunger to succeed. He might take on board some of the issues I have raised.