Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Thursday, 11 July 2019

Public Accounts Committee

Houses of the Oireachtas Commission Appropriation Account 2018

9:00 am

Mr. Seamus McCarthy:

As members will be aware, the primary function of the Houses of Oireachtas Commission is to provide the services necessary to support the functioning of the Houses of the Oireachtas. The commission operates under the framework established by the Houses of the Oireachtas Commission Act 2003. The commission's accounts are a cash-based record of receipts and payments compared to the Estimates. Funding for the commission is provided for statutorily every three years, with Estimates proposed annually to draw a tranche of the three-year budget. The overall funding approved for 2016 to 2018 amounted to €369 million. By the end of 2018, a total of €363 million had been used. The balance of €6 million is no longer available to the commission.

The commission's 2018 account recorded gross expenditure of €134.4 million, distributed among service areas as indicated in the diagram on screen. Pay-related expenses are distributed across a number of the categories and amounted to approximately 65% of total spending in 2018. Further expenditure related to the operation of the Houses of the Oireachtas in 2018 was borne by some Votes and the Central Fund of the Exchequer. This includes spending by the Office of Public Works, OPW, on the premises used to accommodate the services, totalling an estimated €11.6 million; parliamentary activities allowances paid to political parties and Independent Members, totalling €8.6 million; funding for political parties related to their share of the vote in Dáil elections, totalling just under €6 million; and pensions and retirement gratuities of retired staff members, totalling €4 million. Payments in respect of the pensions of Members of the Houses are accounted for in the appropriation account in the form of an annual grant to Ciste Pinsean Thithe an Oireachtais. This amounted to €11.8 million in 2018. A separate account is prepared in respect of the ciste.

Receipts of the commission in 2018 were just under €2.8 million. This included just under €200,000 remitted to the commission under an agreement governing the operation of the Houses catering and bar services. Those services are accounted for separately from the appropriation account and a summary of the transactions is included as note 7.3 to the account.

Members will be glad to note that I issued a clear audit report in respect of the 2018 account.