Seán Fleming (Laois, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Approximately €500,000. My guess of €100,000 was a low estimate. I ask that question in order to make people aware that organisations such as the NTMA and the HSE pay the largest fees to the Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General.

It was stated that the target of the office is to get all audits completed within 12 months of their year-end and that it takes approximately three months to get them in. In my opinion, the office should target getting audits cleared within three months of being submitted. I acknowledge that there is a 12-month target, but getting audited accounts for a previous year in November or December may be too late. In the long term, the office should try to clear the audits within three months. I acknowledge that the appropriation accounts were finished by the end of September. In an ideal world, some of the big accounts would be cleared more quickly. I acknowledge that accounts of organisations such as the NTMA and the HSE will be in in the summer but it would be great if all of the accounts could be smartened up in that way. It is probably an issue of resources as much as anything else.