Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)

I support this motion. First, I pay tribute to the outgoing Comptroller and Auditor General, Mr. John Buckley. Working on the Committee of Public Accounts, I saw at first hand Mr. Buckley's hard work and professional courtesy in dealing with all of us parliamentarians so I wish to acknowledge that and pay tribute to him. I look forward to working with his successor, Mr. Seamus McCarthy, whose nomination is before the House. Like his predecessor, he will have his work cut out for him.

The Minister has set out the central constitutional role of the Comptroller and Auditor General and the intense and, I imagine, growing public scrutiny there will be of the work of that office and of the Committee of Public Accounts, in turn. Never before have concepts such as value for money, accountability and traceability of public moneys been more sharply in focus in the political and the public mind.

I fully endorse the comments made by Deputy McGuinness in respect of an extension of the powers of the Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General and, indeed, of the Committee of Public Accounts. It is almost inexplicable that such large volumes of public moneys are not audited and overseen, in turn, by the committee of the Oireachtas. It would be incredibly disappointing, if the review envisaged did not address that net point and remedy it; I very much hope it will.

The Committee of Public Accounts, working with the Comptroller and Auditor General's office, considers, scrutinises and makes findings in respect of public moneys spent. In welcoming Mr. McCarthy to his new position, I wish to put on the record that those findings must be taken seriously by the system and be acted upon and where flaws, failures or failings have been discovered they must be remedied. It is not sufficient for us to have an exercise in accountability that does not have any follow-up nor, most crucially, any delivery. The only way to get to a full system of value for money is not merely by tracing the moneys and finding where things went wrong, but, very emphatically, by putting things to rights. There is, therefore, an obvious responsibility, for the Accounting Officers in particular, but also for the entire civil and public service to step up to the plate and respond to that challenge.

I have absolutely no doubt that Mr. McCarthy is the best man for the job. On this, the Minister and I are ad idem; we agree; "yes, yes, yes".

I wish to raise a matter and ask the Ceann Comhairle to indulge me although it is more for future reference than for today. I would like to know how many women applied for the job, or if any did. I notice that just over 25% of the senior staff in the Comptroller and Auditor General's Office are women, which is slightly out of kilter when one looks at women's participation rates in the work force. I raise the issue of women in senior positions in the civil and public sector. It is a cause for concern and I hope it is something on which the Government has an eye. I would also be curious to know, in respect of the shortlist for this position, whether there were any applications or applicants from outside the fold of the civil and public service. I raise these points, not in any way to take away from the appointment proposed today. I very much welcome Mr. McCarthy into his role and look forward to working with him as effectively as was the case with Mr. Buckley. They are important considerations, however, in respect of gender on the one hand and, on the other, to Government commitment to diversity and to opening up the senior ranks of the civil and public service to people from the outside. I wish Mr. McCarthy well and I support the motion.

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