Mr. Seamus McCarthy:

The 2022 appropriation account for Vote 40 records gross expenditure of €2.7 billion. This was up 50% on the 2021 gross expenditure of €1.8 billion. The expenditure was distributed across five output programmes that provide a broad range of services to meet the needs of children and vulnerable persons in society.

Programme A provides for children and family support. Gross expenditure of €949 million was incurred, representing just over one third of the total Vote spent in 2022. The grant to Tusla, amounting to €916 million, represents the bulk of the spending on the programme. Programme B comprises funding for a wide range of schemes and programmes to benefit children and young people at a combined cost of €825 million in 2022. This area of spending has increased rapidly in recent years. Most of the schemes funded under the programme are administered by Pobal, acting as an agent on behalf of the Department.

Expenditure of €893 million was charged in 2022 to programme E, which funds the provision of support for international protection seekers. This was more than four times the 2021 expenditure of €200 million, reflecting the impacts of accommodating refugees from the war in Ukraine and the post-Covid surge in the number of persons seeking international protection. The remaining two Vote programmes are on a much smaller scale. One supports a range of equality initiatives, while the other caters for policy development and legislation within the Department's remit. The surplus remaining unspent and due for surrender at the end of 2022 was €86.7 million.

A clear audit opinion was issued in relation to the appropriation account. However, I drew attention to the disclosure by the Accounting Officer in the statement on the internal financial control in relation to non-compliance with procurement rules. This was mainly in relation to contracts put in place for the provision of accommodation to international protection seekers. I also drew attention to the Accounting Officer’s disclosure in the statement on internal financial control about the pressures faced by his Department mainly as a result of the war in Ukraine and some of the effects this had on the operation of the normal control systems. While the Department’s staffing increased from 486 whole-time equivalents at the end of 2021 to more than 600 whole-time equivalents at the end of 2022, this was not enough or fast enough to prevent the build-up of invoices and occasional payment errors. For example, overpayments to suppliers totalling €1.85 million were identified in three cases, but all of this was subsequently recovered. At the year-end, almost €55 million due for payment to suppliers remained unpaid and should have been a charge in 2022. Late payment interest and compensation costs incurred by the Department in 2022 amounted to €247,000.

The pressures on the Department and its systems of control continued into 2023. As I previously informed the committee, I am currently examining the operation of the Department's controls over the contracting of accommodation providers in the context of the audit of the 2023 appropriation account, and I expect a report on that in September.