Chairman:

I would like to begin by welcoming you all to the first meeting of the Committee of Public Accounts of the Thirty-third Dáil. I want to introduce Mr. Martin Hughes, who is the clerk to the committee.

I am honoured to be selected as chairperson of this committee, which focuses on ensuring public services are run efficiently and taxpayers’ money is spent effectively. I welcome back those members who served on the previous committee and I acknowledge their contribution to achieving greater accountability and transparency in public finances. While we are working in unprecedented times, this does not diminish our collective responsibility to ensure that the committee is effective in fulfilling its remit. That remit, as delegated by the Oireachtas, includes more than 300 organisations that are audited by the Comptroller and Auditor General and are accountable to this committee.

It is important to say that there is a lot of good work done in the public sector and we should recognise that where it is in evidence. It has been pretty much in evidence for the past seven months. However, our focus must be on ensuring that our citizens get the best services and best value possible from public money. While past mistakes cannot be corrected, they must be learned from. As part of our role, we must demand that bodies examined by this committee recognise where things could have been done better, but more important, they should demonstrate the capacity to improve.

As a committee, I hope that we will work together in a spirit of co-operation and I look forward to hearing members views as we progress. Before we proceed with the rest of the meeting, members are reminded of the long standing practice and ruling of the Chair to the effect that they should not comment on, criticise or make charges against a person outside the House or an official by name or in such a way as to make him or her identifiable.

I now invite the Comptroller and Auditor General, Mr. Seamus McCarthy, whom I had the privilege of meeting a number of weeks ago, to address the committee, following which I will open the floor to members who might have questions.