Mr. Seamus McCarthy:

To make an observation in this regard, obviously, it is a matter that still is ongoing but an important principle is that it is not left to the local government audit service to find these kinds of cases. If the county council became aware of a breach of controls, I would expect it to go to the local government auditor, tell the auditor there has been a problem which it is looking into and about which the auditor needed to be aware. The auditor should not be expected to find everything. This is why it goes back to the declarations being made by the county manager or whoever with regard to the code of practice. It is important that there is openness and a willingness to confront lapses in control that occur and to get to them quickly and to solve them. In fact, in a situation such as that, local management has to make sure that this does not happen again. It is not for the auditor to chase it, make recommendations and wait years for it to be solved. That is a general principle that should be emphasised.