Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees
Thursday, 8 November 2018
Public Accounts Committee
Business of Committee
9:00 am
Mr. Seamus McCarthy:
They are on schedule to appear at the committee. There is a chapter on payments in excess of entitlements, so it is a perennial issue. They have tried to change the language and I think they may have addressed the issue raised by the committee. There is still a judgment call to be made when they identify a payment in excess of entitlement and they look to the cause. In general, they have been, if one likes, erring on the side of caution and not determining that something is a fraud, or even a suspected fraud, unless they have some piece of evidence that suggests a deliberate action was taken by individuals. They will generally treat an error as a genuine error.