Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Thursday, 18 April 2013

Public Accounts Committee

Business of Committee

10:50 am

Mr. Seamus McCarthy:

If I thought it was warranted, but I must be practical about the matter. One does not look back if there is nothing to be learned. One might look at a programme and say there has been expenditure of a similar nature on a housing programme or a grant scheme and one would look back over two or three years to see how money was spent. One might test. Normally the sample testing would be done on a current basis in a situation like that. One would not look for a sample going back to 2006-2007, unless there was a very particular reason for doing it.