Seán Fleming (Laois, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

For the benefit of those watching, we dealt with Vote 1, which is voted expenditure by the Oireachtas, and the Accounting Officer for the Department of the Taoiseach is the Accounting Officer. That Accounting Officer is who we had previously before the committee on this topic and he is who we will have present when we deal with the Votes for the Department of the Taoiseach, and we will include that as a specific item.

It is important, however, to clarify what the Deputy has said. That allowance is paid directly from the Central Fund and does not go through voted expenditure at all, and that was one of the issues. The Central Fund is managed by the Department of Finance. We will specifically have to deal with that amount with the Secretary General of the Department of Finance when the Secretary General is before the committee. What is known as the Central Fund, the finance accounts of the State, does not go through the Oireachtas for a vote. The main other such items that are not voted through the Oireachtas, including that allowance that we spoke about, include interest on the national debt, contributions to the EU, payments for judges.