Brian Stanley (Laois-Offaly, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Thank you. The final item of correspondence is 1338C, which is dated 23 June 2022. It concerns the wards of court fund. It requests that the committee examine the issue. The correspondence states that there have been substantial losses to the fund and that there is a lack of proper State oversight of the fund, which is in excess of €2 billion.

While the Committee of Public Accounts as of the 31st Dáil, published a report in July 2015, on the wards of court fund, the Committee of Public Accounts of the 32nd Dáil considered the matter. It decided that it was more appropriate that it was under the remit of the then committee on justice and equality and closed its consideration of the matter.

The difficulty is that the fund is not audited by the Comptroller and Auditor General. Therefore, it does not fall within the remit of the Committee of Public Accounts. In September 2020, this committee also considered correspondence on the matter. It referred related correspondence that was received from the Department of Justice and from the Courts Service to the correspondent. It advised that its consideration of the matter was closed. It is proposed that we advise the correspondent that it remains the case that matter is most appropriate to the remit of the Joint Committee on Justice, particularly because the fund is not audited by the Comptroller and Auditor General. The correspondent also states that in 2010, the then Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Deputy Dermot Ahern, assured the Justice for Wards group that legislation was being drafted to allow the Comptroller and Auditor General to have oversight of these funds. Matters of legislation are also for that committee.

To try to assist the correspondent, I would suggest that we clarify the position and that we advise that we might wish to bring the matter to the attention of the justice committee. Does any member wish to comment on that item of correspondence?