Mr. Seamus McCarthy:

The Local Government Audit Service is headquartered in the Department and therefore it may already be aware of this correspondence anyway. It is certainly perfectly open to the original correspondent to communicate with the Local Government Audit Service and see if it wants to take it up. There is obviously a demarcation line between the Department and the local authorities which is constitutionally founded. That is why a separate audit service deals with local government. It reports directly to the relevant council. My only access to this issue would relate to the oversight by the Department. I do not have the original correspondence. I do not have any dispute with what is said by the Department. However, I would need to go back to the original correspondence to see what the issues raised are before making any other comment.