Mr. Seamus McCarthy:

The NTA was established in 2008 and has evolved since then to undertake a wide range of statutory responsibilities, mainly related to public transport planning and funding. The authority's income in 2020 amounted to €1.085 billion, up from €661 million in 2019. The majority of the income comes from Exchequer grant funding. The authority's expenditure in 2020 amounted to €1.043 billion. More than half of this, €579 million, was in respect of public service obligation, PSO, payments. These payments are made to the operators of public transport in respect of public services that otherwise would not be financially viable. Significant additional PSO payments were provided in 2020 as a result of the severe impact of Covid-19-related travel restrictions on the viability of public transport services. In addition, the authority introduced a support scheme in 2020 to offer temporary financial supports to commercial bus operators at a cost of €32.6 million in the year. The second largest area of spending by the authority in 2020 was in respect of the provision of capital investment grants to a wide range of bodies. This amounted to just under €350 million in the year. In addition to the investment funding provided to other bodies, the authority invested €65 million in the purchase of buses that were added to its own bus fleet, which is made available to public transport operators. The carrying value of the whole bus fleet in the statement of financial position was €227 million at the end of 2020.

I certified the financial statements on 24 June 2021 and issued a clear audit opinion. However, I drew attention to a disclosure in the statement on internal financial controls regarding non-effective expenditure of about €400,000 incurred in respect of the development of a new grant management system. After the project commenced, growth in the authority's capital programme meant that enhanced oversight, control and reporting were required. Following an assessment, a management decision was made in 2020 to terminate the project and instead to redevelop the authority's existing grant management system.