Kieran O'Donnell (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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I welcome Mr. Moran. It is fair comment that the report of the Comptroller and Auditor General is damning with regard to keeping records. The Comptroller and Auditor General qualified the accounts from 2007 to 2011. Auditors do not qualify accounts unless they have serious concerns. In all the reports he has stated that in his opinion the Department does not keep proper books of account, entries in books were not made in a timely manner and the books and records would not have enabled the financial position of the centres to be determined with reasonable accuracy throughout the year. He also stated the books and records do not enable the financial statements to be ready and properly audited. It was four years before the 2007 accounts were signed off. These involved €11 million of taxpayers' money. It was six years before the 2008 accounts were signed off by the Comptroller and Auditor General on 27 March 2014. Why did it take so long? I value the work done by the Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General, but I must ask on behalf of the taxpayers why it took so long. Was reference made in the reports to the Committee of Public Accounts to the fact it took six years to sign off on accounts? What was going on here? I have worked out that it involved €56 million of taxpayers money over five years. As everyone likes to say now, riddle me this.