Seán Fleming (Laois, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

It is getting there. The next item concerns the Educational Research Centre. It has a clear audit opinion. The deferred pension assets issue is noted again. It is also noted that the board did not carry out a review of the effectiveness of systems of internal control, which will be noted in the set of financial statements.

The next item concerns the Higher Education Authority, which is the statutory funding body for higher education. Its turnover is €1.2 billion. It is on our work programme and we will be dealing with it shortly. It has a clear audit opinion.

The next item concerns the 2017 accounts of Ollscoil na hÉireann, Gaillimh. It has a clear audit opinion but attention is drawn to the deferred pension asset - the same issue affecting all universities - payments where the procurement procedures employed did not comply with public procurement guidelines, and omission from a disclosure about severance of a payment of €91,000 to a staff member in respect of a period of non-attendance treated incorrectly as sabbatical leave. We will write and ask for a note about that.