Victor Boyhan (Independent)
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First, I wish to welcome the witnesses to the meeting. I am great advocate of NOAC. It does amazing work. If there is any shortcoming, it is that there is a deficit in how we highlight the work of NOAC. I am glad the witnesses are here today. Representatives from LGAS, including Ms Niamh Larkin, will be attending the second session. I think the two organisations are inextricably linked. I note with interest that NOAC is going to have a meeting with the chairs of the audit committees. One thing that people listening to this meeting may not know is that no audit committee is chaired by a councillor. Indeed, councillors are excluded, under the legislation, from chairing an audit committee. I think that is disappointing. The way in which the audit committees are structured is not a matter for us to discuss now. It will be an issue for discussion in the next session. That presents its own problems. Of course, members of audit committees are appointed by the corporate policy group, CPG, of each local authority. Ultimately, we can see that the balance of the make-up of the council shapes the appointment of the external members. I think that is a shortcoming. However, that is not an issue for NOAC.

At the outset, I wish to welcome the fact that former Deputy, Declan Breathnach, and Ms Philomena Poole, former CEO of Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council, are members of NOAC. That is progressive. I know that, ultimately, the Minister appoints members to NOAC. I suggest that we should always aim to have a former CEO of a local authority on the commission. I hold CEOs in high esteem. They have vast experience within local government. To me, they are the kernel of local government. I wish to put on the record that I see a really critical role, going forward, for them in the discussion of the issue of mayors. I believe that CEOs play a professional and critical role in local government. That is worth saying. I will certainly be advocating for their retention, at partnership level, in future governance. I think it is important that we have the experience of CEOs and sitting county councillors at NOAC board level.

I wish to acknowledge that NOAC published more than 20 reports in 2021. That is significant. I do not think that any of us sitting on the committee have had the opportunity to study the reports. That demonstrates the need to highlight the work of NOAC. There are some local authorities that spend ten or 15 minutes looking at their local authority audit report. I have printed each of the 31 local authority audit reports for our second session. There are some local authorities that have not even looked at their local authority audit report for 2020. That is the reality of it. That tells us something about the priority that this given to this area of governance. There are key indicators in the NOAC reports. How do we tap into that rich source of information? I acknowledge that NOAC does it well. How are we learning, and how can we demonstrate that we have taken on board that learning - the facts, figures and granular detail that NOAC seeks to quantify in its reports, which is good? I am not too sure how that is happening. I am not convinced that it is happening well. I think the reports are very high-quality. However, there is not, for instance, a provision in statute for a meeting to be held to consider NOAC's reports. Perhaps there should be such a meeting, or some mechanism for engagement whereby we can demonstrate that the Department, NOAC or the councillors have considered the reports in detail. What do we learn? It is about the follow-up. I know that NOAC has been established for a good few years, but it is a relatively new organisation. It is improving its practices all the time and honing its skills. Do the witnesses have any suggestions or ideas as to how we could in some way make the reports more meaningful in terms of practical follow-through so that the citizen, ultimately, is getting good value for money and a good service, and local authorities are meeting the targets and aspirations that the policymakers set for them?