Mr. Seamus McCarthy:

The first set of financial statements for noting are the accounts of the Houses of the Oireachtas Commission and members will be glad to know it got a clear audit opinion. That is for 2021.

The second set is from the Mental Health Commission, again for 2021, and this received a qualified audit opinion. The accounts, in my view, give a true and fair view, except that they account for the costs of retirement benefit entitlements only as they become payable, and that is standard for many health bodies. It is in the nature of a technical qualification there and it is only qualified in regard to that point.

There are nine sets of financial statements that come from the National Treasury Management Agency stable, if you like, and it has a very broad remit.

The first one is the accounts of the national debt of Ireland for 2021. That received a clear audit opinion. The next one is the administration account for the National Treasury Management Agency. These are the expenses of the organisation. There is a clear audit opinion for 2021. Next is the Post Office Savings Bank Fund for 2021. It is a clear audit opinion.

The State Claims Agency received a clear audit opinion for 2021, but I do draw attention to the disclosure in the statement on internal control that there were a number of erroneous payments made in 2021 to service providers due to the agency's manual payment processing. The service providers returned the payment so there was no net loss, but still it was a control failing.

Next is the Dormant Accounts Fund for 2021. It received a clear audit opinion. The National Surplus (Reserve Fund for Exceptional Contingencies) for 2021 received a clear audit opinion, but that is a nil account where there is no balance in the account at the moment. No. 9 is the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund for 2021, which received a clear audit opinion. No. 10 is the National Pensions Reserve Fund. This is a fund that is now dissolved, and these are the final accounts for 2021. It received a clear audit opinion. The Ireland Apple Escrow Fund for 2021 received a clear audit opinion.

Moving on from the NTMA accounts, No. 12 is the Child and Family Agency, also known as Tusla. For 2021 it received a clear audit opinion, but I drew attention to the disclosures that are made in the accounts on material non-compliant procurement and the implications for Tusla of the cyberattack on the HSE's ICT system. Tusla relies on support from the HSE for its ICT system.

The next one is the Cork Education and Training Board. These are the financial statements for 2020. It received a clear audit opinion, but I drew attention to disclosures about material non-compliant procurement, which occurs in other ETBs. I also drew attention to significant delay and additional costs incurred by the board on a capital project for the building of an extension to one of its schools, due to the failure of the first appointed contractor in December 2017. Last week, when the Department of Education was here, Deputy Murphy drew attention to that kind of situation. There is another ETB coming forward where I draw attention to a similar problem. Undoubtedly, there is or has been an issue there.

The final one for noting this week is the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission for 2021, which received a clear audit opinion.