Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Thursday, 3 December 2015

Public Accounts Committee

2014 Annual Report and Appropriation Accounts of the Comptroller and Auditor General
Vote 7 - Office of the Minister for Finance
Chapter 1 - Exchequer Financial Outturn for 2014
Chapter 2 - Government Debt
Chapter 3 - Cost of Bank Stabilisation Measures as at the end of 2014
Finance Accounts 2014

10:00 am

Photo of John McGuinnessJohn McGuinness (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I will finish with the point about collecting the money. We all pay our taxes. There is always a risk of errors being made when spending tax revenue. The view of the Department should be that it should raise the issue either with Mr. Walsh or with the spending Department. Significant sums are involved. If some of these things happened in business, the business would be bust.

To take the point made by Mr. Moran, that it is about getting on, seeing the bigger picture and raising the taxes, as the Minister would do on budget day, I would be deeply concerned at the idea that one would turn to the taxpayer all of the time. What I am trying to do as Chairman of the Committee of Public Account is get the State through the Secretaries General to focus on expenditure of taxpayer's money, which is in some cases is a total mess.