John Brady (Wicklow, Sinn Fein)

We will move on to No. 5. The minutes of the meeting of 23 October 2025 have been agreed and will be published on the committee's website. At that meeting, officials from the Department of justice asked to make a clarification in respect of one of their responses in the committee to a question from Deputy Ardagh regarding the maximum number of prisoners that the State had in custody. The official stated that the highest number, some 5,699, was recorded on the day prior to the meeting, which would have meant that prison system was at 110% of capacity. The Department wishes to correct the record and has stated that the correct figure was 5,599, meaning that the system was operating at 120% of capacity.

Ten sets of accounts and financial statements laid before the committee between 20 October and 31 October 2025 and are due to be considered today. We are joined by the Comptroller and Auditor General, who is a permanent witness to the committee. I will ask the Comptroller and Auditor General to address these before opening the floor to members.