Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Thursday, 28 November 2019

Public Accounts Committee

Business of Committee

9:00 am

Photo of Imelda MunsterImelda Munster (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I was flicking through the report that we received at 8.27 this morning, at the 11th hour, to say the least. On page 7 in the report, in the last paragraph, Mr. Finnegan states that: "I was advised that the estimated cost was €230,000", but he does not say when he was advised of that. Did he know about this when he was before the committee on 11 July?

In the next sentence, Mr. Finnegan states: "As you will be aware no discussion arose on the cost of the works in the course of my appearance." Is he saying that because questions were not asked about refurbishment works which we had not been informed of, he was under no obligation to answer on that, even though he knew the committee was not aware of it? The information came out only through the freedom of information request. Alternatively, is he saying he did not have to answer on that because the refurbishment costs were not strictly in the 2018 budget? Mr. Finnegan would know full well that the focus of this committee is on the systems, practices and procedures that underpin public expenditure. He would not need us to tell him that. It appears he omitted to give that information knowing that it related to an overrun. This amounts to a breakdown in the process that has caused an overspend of upwards of €500,000. There are some serious questions to ask.

I read the Official Report of the meeting on 11 July and in response to a question by my colleague, Deputy Cullinane, about an increase of €9.7 million, Mr. Finnegan said: "To answer the Deputy's last question first, the increase of €9.7 million resulted from a strategic decision that we did because there was funding available in the final year of our three-year budgetary cycle." The next sentence seems very casual on reading back: "The service basically recommended to the commission that we bring forward ICT expenditure." The casual way he says let us blow this on ICT expenditure hints that this was a rushed job and that would most definitely explain the complete and utter hames that has been made of it. There are lots of questions and Mr. Finnegan should be invited to appear before the committee.

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