Seán Fleming (Laois, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The payment out is under the functions of the Secretary General of the Department of Finance and not of Mr. Fraser. The Department of Finance will be here in a couple of weeks and is on notice that we will ask about this payment being made from the Central Fund, as other payments from the Central Fund get made. We can ask that Secretary General whether there is a mechanism for accounting for that onward payment. That is something we will tease out. The public sees it very simply. There was expenditure at June 2017 of €8.648 million for the President's Establishment and most of it was Voted expenditure while €317,000 was not. The public will ask why, if the Comptroller and Auditor General can audit €8.3 million of the €8.6 million, someone cannot audit the other €317,000. Of the fund, 95% is audited by the Comptroller and Auditor General. From a layperson's point of view, it is not unreasonable to ask why that is not 100%. That is another day's work and probably a matter for policy or legislation.