David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome Mr. Watt and his team to the committee. It is fair to say that it is a good job all around as far as I can see. There was not a huge amount I could have picked from the Comptroller and Auditor General's special report for this Department, which is obviously good. However, there are a number of questions I want to put, along with making a number of observations. Some of these may have been asked. I was doing some media interviews and was not here for all of the contributions. If there is any repetition, Mr. Watt might say so.

My first point is a bit repetitious but I wanted to make an observation as well as to put a question. In his summary in the report, the Comptroller and Auditor General said two thirds of bodies produced their audited accounts and that those accounts covered 97% of the value of the turnover audited. Obviously, 97% is high on the face of it and is very good. The difficulty is when one looks at the amount of money. My calculation is that 100% would be €218 billion. If 3% is not audited, that is €6 billion which is not audited as it should be. Does Mr. Watt accept that it is a great deal of money? While he said 97% may be as good as we are going to get it, I do not think he intended it in that way.