Mr. Seamus McCarthy:

Perhaps the reason the Chairman did not believe they were still there was because he was not seeing the financial statements. The obligation is on the Department. Since this is what is called a departmental fund, the Department manages the fund. It is the obligation of the Accounting Officer to submit the financial statements to the Oireachtas, and then it should come on the agenda here.

An issue we have raised in the past is delays in presentation, and the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform issued a circular in 2015, I believe, reminding Departments of the obligation to get their financial statements in quickly. What one should expect is that once I have signed the certificate and presented it to the body, it should then present it to the Department within a month. Unless it has to go to Government for noting, it should be presented by the Minister and his Department within two months of receipt. The maximum period between the date of certification and the date of receipt is about three to three and a half months. However, if one looks down through this list, one will see that there are bigger gaps.