Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Thursday, 28 April 2022

Public Accounts Committee

2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 24 - Justice
Vote 21 - Prisons

9:30 am

Ms Oonagh McPhillips:

There was a lot in that. In terms of capital projects generally, we are guided by the public spending code, which is our bible in these things. We have to follow all the requirements in the public spending code. We rely to a great extent on OPW in relation to acquiring sites and the verification of whether a site is a suitable and meets all the requirements of the particular project. The different agencies in the Department have slightly different approaches to these things. The Courts Service has a huge capital programme. The Accounting Officer for the Courts Service is responsible for that. An Garda Síochána has a big capital programme, as do the prisons, and the Garda Commissioner is the accounting officer for that.