Mr. Tony Murphy:

No. Obviously, we cannot audit all transactions and payments throughout the European Union. What we audit is the EU budget and the figure is 703. Sometimes we are asked how particular member states are doing. For example, we are asked, "How is Ireland or Romania doing?" We cannot give a definitive opinion because we are not sampling on the basis of member states but on the basis of the EU budget as a whole and then different policy areas. In fact, one of the issues that may have contributed to the fact that Cohesion Fund spending was so low was that we had introduced a new approach to our audit of the fund, whereby we would rely more on systems. We are looking to try to avoid a bureaucratic burden on beneficiaries in order that they will not face multiple audits by other authorities in the member state, as well as by the Commission. The idea was to try to use the work of the audit authorities and if that work was good enough, we would re-perform what they had done and if that was good enough, we would not have to go near the beneficiary. We had mixed results. As I said, it was a random sample, but in the case of the Cohesion Fund, we audited transactions which had already gone through the system. They had been audited by the other authorities.

We issued a report on Erasmus+ only a couple of months ago. It is a flagship programme for the European Union in that it is a programme that connects with citizens. Nearly all of us know people who have been on an Erasmus exchange programme. That is what we need more and more to have programmes where people will really see the benefits and that the European Union is adding value. We are all for Erasmus+ pilot scheme being expanded. I hope it will continue.

I think I have more or less covered the MFF post-2020. Deputy Seán Haughey asked about the increased contribution. We will have to wait and see as negotiations are ongoing. We will have to wait and see how the hole created by the withdrawal will be filled. Obviously, the headline on the press release from the President in the report is that the European Union should not make promises on which it cannot deliver. There must be a realistic approach. We have to realise the extent of the EU budget and what one can do with it. Member states also need to be realistic. They have to contribute to the Commission. The President of the Commission, Mr. Jean-Claude Juncker, stated in his speech that the Commission could not be blamed for everything and that we needed resources to be able to do certain things. One cannot cut the budget and then say one wants more. Everybody is in favour of greater efficiency; however, the expectation gap is widening between what can be and what is being delivered.

The Chairman asked about Brexit. We are in the same position. While circumstances change every day, we wait and see what will happen. We will be involved when the deal is finalised, whether to validate figures or in some other role. We have a Brexit task force which follows the process and any new audit we start. Basically, we see whether it could be affected by Brexit. We have had a few cases, where we audited the agencies based in London. They are relocating, one to Amsterdam and another to Paris. Brexit is already real for us in certain areas, but in others we must wait and see. For us, at the end of any transition period we will still be able to audit EU funds which are being spent in the United Kingdom. As members know, programme periods run on until 2020 and expenditure can probably be claimed up to 2023. We will still have to check it as long as the United Kingdom is receiving EU funds.