Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Thursday, 8 February 2018

Public Accounts Committee

2016 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General
Chapter 7 - Dormant Accounts Fund

9:00 am

Mr. Deaglán Ó Briain:

They will continue to be funded, subject to our obligations to review funding periodically. Whether it is from the same source or Exchequer funding or other sources of funding depends on future dormant accounts action plans, but they will continue to be funded, subject to the periodic renewal processes.

The Deputy mentioned Cosc as well. Again, there is an issue about the alignment of the annual Estimates and the dormant accounts.

There was no underspend of the funding allocated for support for victims of crime. The money was spent over two years and not one. In respect of inviting applications and making sure that beneficiaries do not have unexpended balances at the end of the year, which is also a very strict rule, it was inevitable that money would not be spent in one year but it has all been spent. Those projects are continuing and additional funding has been committed. At the start there was an allocation in a dormant account action plan and all of that was spent but not in one year.