Mr. Seamus McCarthy:

The Residential Institutions Statutory Fund Board, better known as Caranua, was established in March 2013 under the Residential Institutions Statutory Fund Act 2012. Caranua is responsible for overseeing the use of substantial funds pledged by a number of religious congregations to support the needs of survivors of residential institutional child abuse. The Act provides that the funds received from the religious congregations were to be used to pay grants to survivors in order that they may avail of approved services. The types of approved services for which grant funding is available are housing support services, health and well-being services and education, learning and development services. The Act also permits the use of the fund to pay for expenditure incurred by Caranua in the performance of its functions.

The financial statements for Caranua before the committee today relate to the financial year 2017. At December 2017, cash contributions amounting to €101 million had been received into the fund. Interest earned on deposits amounted to €321,000. As at 31 December 2017, the status of the amounts received was as follows: €66.8 million had been paid out by way of grants to survivors of residential institutional child abuse; €7.6 million had been used to fund Caranua’s administration costs and there was a net balance of €26.9 million remaining in the fund. Caranua’s expenditure in 2017 totalled just over €17 million. Almost €15 million was expended in respect of grants to survivors. This included €10.7 million on housing-related grants and €3.7 million on health-related grants. Administration expenditure charged to the fund in 2017 amounted to €2.06 million.

My audit report in respect of Caranua’s financial statements for 2017 draws attention to the statement on internal control, which discloses weaknesses in the board’s control over grant payments, which created a risk that in some cases grant expenditure might not be used for the purposes intended. During the audit of the 2017 financial statements, sample-based examination of the controls over grant payments found that: evidence was not available in respect of 56% of the sample cases examined that required pricing quotations were received by the board in advance of grant payment; evidence was not available in respect of around 50% of the sample grants examined that required invoices and receipts had been presented following payment of grants and; evidence was not available in respect of 55% of a sample of housing support grants examined that claimants had provided the required proof of property tenancy or ownership. These grant control findings are similar to those of previous years’ audits, to which I had also drawn attention. The statement on internal control sets out the steps being taken by the board to resolve the control weaknesses identified. Fieldwork on the audit of Caranua’s draft 2018 financial statements has been completed. I expect that the financial statements will be certified in the coming weeks.