Paul McAuliffe (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

My question was concerned more with the current structure, and Mr. McCarthy is right that the structure exists, in the context of the time and resources that the members of audit committees have and whether that structure enables them to scrutinise the audit reports in the same way as we do at the Committee of Public Accounts, for example. My knowledge of local audit committees is that they meet much less frequently than the Committee of Public Accounts and they do not have the same back-up services or the independent liaison with the audit service. It is not the same interaction as the way in which I deal with the liaison officer of the Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General and not with the line Department. In a council, it is often the representatives of the line department who are providing the explanation, while the councillors asking the questions are also depending on that line department to deliver the services desired. Therefore, it is difficult for a member of a local authority to take a strong line against an official within one's council.