Neale Richmond (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Mr. Murphy for his detailed presentation. I also thank him for his hospitality in April. I was the only member from this committee there, although three colleagues from the finance committee were also present. It was one of the most worthwhile Oireachtas trips I have been on. It was fascinating to see the work of the ECA and how that tied into the wider institutions.

I have two questions on the report and one on something that might be happening in a room in Luxembourg. Mr. Murphy mentioned the nine referrals to OLAF. What sorts of referral were they, what did they entail and at what level were they? What happens to non-absorbed funds? We are coming to the end of a budgetary cycle. Do the funds go back into the pot and can they be reused?

Bearing in mind what is happening with Brexit, we are completing the end of this MFF cycle and moving into the next one. We touched on the budget formulation process in Luxembourg at the time, but is there more information available now that we are six months further down the track? Have there been delays in the formulation process? Will Mr. Murphy put into context the impact of Brexit on the European budget? How much less or, in certain areas, more money will there be?

Since my next question might be political, if Mr. Murphy is unable to answer it, that is fair enough. When the then European Commissioner for Budget and Human Resources, Mr. Günther Oettinger, appeared before us approximately 12 months ago, he spoke about how the future budget would be different from previous budgets. We know the political emphasis placed on changing levels of expenditure, with CAP and the national environment wing of the budget receiving attention, but the security element is emerging. The Commissioner was specific that spending on security would have to increase. To what extent does Mr. Murphy estimate the expenditure levels will change? In his role as an auditor, can the court truly measure the success of the budgetary impact on security? CAP is not easy to measure, but it has been ongoing for so long and the numbers are clear to us all to read. Measuring security is a little different.