Marc MacSharry (Sligo-Leitrim, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Can I request, on behalf of the Committee of Public Accounts, that those procedures be given to us, first, to confirm whether they are in place? Perhaps it is something the audit committee set up in 2016 can look at once it gets around to it in 2018 or 2019. What procedures govern the expenditure or use of the sum of €317,000? Perhaps we could have an indication, staying within the bounds of the constitutional position, of what it has been used for in the last seven or, for that matter, ten or 20 years. It seems bizarre that €317,000 of public money is given to whomever on an annual basis, with no oversight or responsibility by anybody, while Mr. Fraser, as Accounting Officer, states to me that he presumes there are procedures in place that govern it in Áras an Uachtaráin and the Comptroller and Auditor General confirms that he does not audit it. That is an issue.