David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein)
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The other issue is on the non-compliant procurement contracts. I am not exactly sure what is being asked of the Comptroller and Auditor General in that regard. Every time the appropriation accounts come before us, we write to the Accounting Officers looking for a detailed explanation which, in itself puts pressure on, which is of value. Let us say, for example, we pick 2018 and have a report on the full picture at each organisation that has submitted its accounts - some have not but most have - and where there was a problem. Is there a possibility of the secretariat then doing some work on this? We have been looking at the areas where there are problems. Some of the problems are benign while others are not. We can examine areas of crossover in terms of the problems. That would be useful because we want to get the parties involved to learn from this. There are two issues at play here. First, the rules themselves may not be fit for purpose. That is one of the issues we may need to consider. The rules may need to be changed. That is not for us to do but it might be the outcome of our work. What would be the way forward in that context? I would imagine that it would not be hugely difficult to do this.