Colm Burke (Cork North Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank our guests for coming in today. My apologies for arriving late but I had other meetings to attend. On the overall expenditure by the Government, part of that expenditure is funding that is provided by the relevant Departments to local authorities. Does the Department believe there is enough scrutiny of how local authorities use that money? I know they are accountable to the councillors but there is not the same level of scrutiny. For instance, we cannot invite a local authority before the Committee of Public Accounts. Do the witnesses believe we now need to change the legislation to deal with that issue? It is a substantial budget, between all the local authorities. Is it time to look at that whole issue of how we can get better value for money? We have talked about that. Does the Department feel we can do a lot more in scrutinising that whole area?