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

We will move on. The next item is No. 1431B from Mr. Peter Reynolds, chief financial officer of Trinity College, dated 1 September 2022 and providing information we requested regarding non-compliant procurement. The committee has a standing agreement to follow up on and request explanations from bodies that are accountable to it where the Comptroller and Auditor General identifies non-compliant procurement in excess of €500,000 in their accounts. It is proposed to note and publish this item of correspondence. Is that agreed? Agreed.

I have flagged this because there were a few things that stood out to me. As can be seen in the correspondence, 13 vendor or supplier payments were listed as non-compliant. Members can see the table included in the document along with the total figure. PricewaterhouseCoopers received €79,900, almost €80,000, for taxation advice to support overseas offices. A tender solution is being examined with HR for the 2022 financial year. I am curious as to why tax advice would not have been tendered for given the number of accountancy firms in the city, never mind in the State. The university is saying that a tender solution is being examined. We should write back and say that this needs to be a tendered process. Going down through these non-compliant payments, it can be seen that, in respect of the second one, there are no repeat purchases planned and that the awards are now being tendered for. That is fine. The fourth relates to consultancy. No repeat purchase is planned. I have flagged another in respect of pensions. Some €434,941 was spent on pension administration fees. The expenditure was not assessed due to the designation of overall pensions spend as exempt. The contract is now tendered. Does the Comptroller and Auditor General wish to explain that? I take it to mean that the university is saying, because the overall pension spend is exempt from procurement, the contract does not have to be tendered for. Is that correct?