Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

I spoke earlier about spin or flowery language. I took a paragraph from one of the documents we got, which stated it is worth noting that 1,074 units went on site in quarter 2 of 2018, which is an increase of 27% on the previous quarter, which was 846, and an increase of 239% on quarter 2 of 2017. I accept the percentages are right, but the numbers are tiny relative to the scale of the problem. That kind of presentation suggesting something is a great leap ahead drives us bananas. The Department would want to put an extra zero at the end of some of those numbers to make a sizeable impact.

Page 125 of the Comptroller and Auditor General report relates to the approved housing bodies. Paragraph 10.36 states "A report from the Local Government Audit Service (LGAS) in December 2015 found a number of instances in a number of local authorities, where mortgages, related to the three schemes, were not fully executed and recommended conducting a review and reconciliation of all mortgages charged on AHB properties." About 12 different points are made about other recommendations. One of them is that "local authorities should record all loans outstanding on their financial systems and issue annual loan balance statement". Another recommendation is that "local authorities should review AHB projects to ensure that final accounts and post-project reviews have been completed". Another one is that "suitably qualified local authority staff should inspect and verify certificates for payment for capital projects", which suggests they are not suitably qualified. It also recommends that "local authorities should ensure that relevant staff received training in capital appraisal and procurement requirements", which suggests a deficiency there.

Earlier we heard that the local government auditor is coming back to review how those recommendations were completed. That was not available when this report was being done. Is that available now?