Dinny McGinley (Donegal South West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Acting Chairman for the explanation. The Ulster-Scots Agency is an agency of the North-South Language Body, An Foras Teanga, with responsibility for promoting the Ulster-Scots language and culture within Northern Ireland and throughout the island of Ireland. As a result of legislative requirements, the annual report and accounts of the Ulster-Scots Agency form part of the annual consolidated report and accounts of An Foras Teanga. In regard to the 2010 accounts, the certificate of the Comptrollers and Auditors General indicates that the agency incurred expenditure totalling £372,523, or €432,124, in connection with which the procedures employed did not comply with those laid down in the language body's financial memorandum.

The Comptrollers and Auditors General have noted the actions taken by the agency to improve its financial controls surrounding grants in general, which include additional staff training, revision of internal processes, revision of claim forms and enhanced requirements for documentation in support of claims for payment. I understand that the matters referred to in the 2010 accounts relate to legacy issues which have since been addressed by the agency.

In regard to the publication of annual reports and accounts, it is worth noting that the production of consolidated accounts is particularly complex in this case, arising from the unique organisational structure of An Foras Teanga as a North-South body comprising two distinct agencies, and from the particular legislative requirement that the annual report and accounts of the agencies be published as a single consolidated document. It is also important to note that the delays that have arisen in recent years in publishing the annual reports and accounts of An Foras Teanga may be seen, in many ways, to have their origin in issues that arose with regard to the 2000 and 2001 accounts, which were not published until 2005. In accordance with a direction from the North-South Ministerial Council, a high level of priority has been given to tackling the backlog in recent years, as a result of which 11 annual reports and accounts have been published since 2005 for An Foras Teanga. It is envisaged that the annual report and accounts for 2011 will be certified by the Comptrollers and Auditors General and laid before the Houses of the Oireachtas and the Northern Ireland Assembly in the very near future. Finally, I should point out that the Ulster-Scots Agency is up-to-date with the submission of its own individual draft annual reports and accounts up to and including 2012.

See this speech in context