Mr. Seamus McCarthy:

The Courts Service has responsibility for managing court administration, supporting the Judiciary, and providing court buildings and related office accommodation. The associated expenditure is accounted for through Vote 22. The 2018 appropriation account for the Vote records gross expenditure of €135 million. This is up marginally from €133 million in 2017. An analysis of the main components of the 2018 gross expenditure is provided in the figure now shown on the screen. The largest element of spending is administration pay, amounting to €52.5 million. Salaries of judges are paid directly from the Central Fund of the Exchequer and not from the Vote. These amounted to €26.8 million in 2018.

The second largest area of Vote expenditure relates to charges levied under public private partnership, PPP, arrangements for the provision and operation of courthouses. Expenditure in 2018 was €35.8 million. Note 2.8 to the appropriation account summarises the estimated overall cost of the PPP arrangements and the remaining financial commitments to be met over the life of the contracts. At the end of 2018, these future commitments were estimated at €758 million.

On the receipts side, appropriations-in-aid of the Vote totalled just over €49.5 million in 2018. More than 90% of this related to a range of fees charged in respect of legal documents lodged and services provided in court offices.

The net expenditure on the Vote was around €4 million less than was provided in the 2018 Estimate. The Courts Service got the agreement of the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform to carry over €2.5 million in unspent capital funding to 2019. The balance of €1.6 million was due for surrender at the year's end. Funds held in trust by the courts and managed by the Judiciary do not form part of the appropriation account and are not within the remit of my audit.

In my report on the appropriation account for 2018 I drew attention to a material level of non-compliance with national procurement rules in respect of contracts operated by the Department during the year. This is disclosed by the Accounting Officer in the statement on internal financial control.