Matt Carthy (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I support Deputy Murphy on that point.

In respect of the correspondence itself and the laying of the accounts, I note the Chair's positive remarks but think it would be more positive if the accounts were actually produced on time. There is a number of items of correspondence from different bodies - I cannot clarify how many - but they indicate that the delay to the laying of the accounts relates to the fact that the budget was brought forward. It was announced that the budget would be brought forward in July. That is seven months into the year. I would have thought that there would have been still sufficient time for accounts to have been prepared beforehand. The cited circular is exactly one year old. Within its first incarnation there are a number of bodies that are not providing their accounts on time. There needs to be an improvement across all bodies in respect of that. Of course it is better for somebody to proactively let us know that they will be late as opposed to us having to chase accounts up. It would save on the paper in the correspondence if the accounts were actually submitted on time.

The NTA were in before the committee not too long ago and there are a couple of outstanding questions which we might follow up on over the coming weeks as well.