Seán Fleming (Laois, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

We need to ask those questions. I am not sure whether boards of management have to audit the income of schools, such as capitation grants and other grants. Maybe members can tell me whether they do. I am not talking about teacher salaries because they come straight from the Department. It goes without saying that all schools are tight on money. I am involved in my local community employment scheme, which has to have two audits, one of which relates to its own fund. The company that runs it has to have a second audit. The accounts of community employment schemes are audited to ensure the moneys that are paid for training, staffing, courses and materials are used for the purposes for which they are intended, as agreed with the Department. An audit has to be done. I do not know whether any audit is done in a school. I am just not sure. I am not suggesting that 4,000 audits have to be done in all the schools in Ireland. I think there should be an annual return from the board of management of each school, showing how the money received from the Department under various headings has been utilised. Maybe there is a need for some spot checks. The issue this correspondence highlights is that when the money is sent out, that is the end of it. That is not good enough.