Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Tuesday, 17 May 2022

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government

Local Government Audit Service Report: Discussion

Photo of Victor BoyhanVictor Boyhan (Independent)
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We know that some audit committees delay their meetings, and this prolongs and delays the process. Some of these audit reports are pretty powerful and they are pretty damning. I am not suggesting anything but at some point they have to surface and be dealt with.

I do not know if Ms Larkin has any comment on this, but I would like to see some sort of guidelines in relation to a designated public meeting of a local authority to only deal with this particular issue. Councillors tell me they have been given only two minutes to discuss an audit report, so I think that is an issue.

I have every confidence in the integrity of the LGAS system and the hard work of its staff. I have been tracking it for a long time and I have engaged with for a long time. That is excellent. Where the shortcoming lies is in how we bring it from the LGAS producing the report to the floor of the council chamber, to wit, the councillors. I do not ask Ms Larkin to respond to that. It is just a comment.

It is a matter for Ms Larkin, her staff and her resources, but would she consider revisiting local authority companies and also deal with the issue about the property asset register. They are both alarming and of concern to different degrees. They are two issues that have been jumping off the page as a reoccurring area of concern. Ms Larkin might consider a focus on them. I might not even ask her to say that, because I know she has a work plan and programme, but she might take away that they are two areas on which I would like to think we could have more focus. I thank Ms Larkin and her staff.