Seán Kyne (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

That is a decision for Professor Collins. I am sure he will be busy anyway. It might be something worth considering. I am nearly finished. Professor Collins will be aware of the saga in RTÉ involving Toy Story: The Musical and all that went on there. IFI is obviously subject to a governance rule that any capital expenditure of over €50,000 has to be approved by the board, similar to RTÉ. That is not the overall package. Individual projects over €50,000 have to be approved. Professor Collins will be aware that some €219,000, plus VAT, was expended in Aasleagh Lodge in County Mayo without reference to the board. No approval was got from the board for that a number of years ago. Is it Professor Collins's intention to look into that matter? I raised it with the Minister, Deputy Donohoe, when the Appropriation Act was going through the Seanad before Christmas. It is a concern that sanction from the board was not sought in that instance.

On a similar and final note, Professor Collins would be aware of the debate at the public accounts committee, where the Comptroller and Auditor General, Mr. Seamus McCarthy, referred to a number of things. He drew attention to a change of the chief executive's normal place of work from IFI's headquarters in Donegal to the regional office in Ballyshannon in November 2021. He said this had implications for the claiming of expenses by the chief executive. He said that they found no contemporaneous written record of a proposal for the work location change, its financial implications, or of a decision in that regard by the board, which was responsible of setting the terms and conditions of the chief executive. This resulted in the CEO getting €5,400 in expenses that he would not get without the change of contract, which the board would have had to decide on.

There are issues regarding decisions not going through proper procedure in the board. It is something to be conscious of. I am sure Professor Collins, with his vast experience, will be conscious of it. It is important that we also learn from past governance issues, look into those and see if there are issues of concern going forward.