Results 6,161-6,180 of 26,537 for speaker:John McGuinness

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 78 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: Matters Arising out of Education Audits (Resumed) (10 Oct 2013)

John McGuinness: There were some common personnel running through both reports and the audit.

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 78 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: Matters Arising out of Education Audits (Resumed) (10 Oct 2013)

John McGuinness: How is it that in two of the reports they were able to uncover so much, yet in the context of the audit they did not bring anything to your attention?

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 78 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: Matters Arising out of Education Audits (Resumed) (10 Oct 2013)

John McGuinness: Deloitte were engaged as auditors and, as such, they would have examined the full range of activities within the institute from a financial point of view, is that correct?

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 78 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: Matters Arising out of Education Audits (Resumed) (10 Oct 2013)

John McGuinness: Would they have looked at governance, for example?

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 78 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: Matters Arising out of Education Audits (Resumed) (10 Oct 2013)

John McGuinness: Therefore they would probably have looked at the governing body, the internal audit committee and so on.

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 78 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: Matters Arising out of Education Audits (Resumed) (10 Oct 2013)

John McGuinness: The point I am making is that at no stage was any of this irregularity of spend or governance picked up by the internal audit committee which did not tell Deloitte's.

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 78 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: Matters Arising out of Education Audits (Resumed) (10 Oct 2013)

John McGuinness: Yet it never triggered anything. It never asked questions about governance.

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 78 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: Matters Arising out of Education Audits (Resumed) (10 Oct 2013)

John McGuinness: Why did it not do something about it then, if it was not sure about what was going on either in the president's office or indeed anywhere else?

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 78 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: Matters Arising out of Education Audits (Resumed) (10 Oct 2013)

John McGuinness: So it got €30,000 each year.

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 78 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: Matters Arising out of Education Audits (Resumed) (10 Oct 2013)

John McGuinness: I understand that. However, surely at some stage someone looking at governance within the institute would have come up with a query on, for example, the president's office and how it reports its cost centre. It is referred to as a cost centre there. That cost centre is called the president's office but I have noticed that within that there is all kinds of promotional material going on,...

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 78 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: Matters Arising out of Education Audits (Resumed) (10 Oct 2013)

John McGuinness: The governing body or the internal audit committee did not raise that issue. They just proceeded with the general governance arrangements that were in place, and nobody else raised it either, in terms of the Comptroller and Auditor General or the Deloitte report.

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 78 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: Matters Arising out of Education Audits (Resumed) (10 Oct 2013)

John McGuinness: I am not interested in systems. There are people operating those systems. We are tired of hearing about systems in this committee. People were operating the systems of management and those who were overseeing those systems did not raise an issue or ring any bell. The Department did not pick up on it and neither did the HEA. Things went merrily along until such time as a financial issue...

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 78 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: Matters Arising out of Education Audits (Resumed) (10 Oct 2013)

John McGuinness: It was queried by the secretary to the financial controller.

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 78 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: Matters Arising out of Education Audits (Resumed) (10 Oct 2013)

John McGuinness: Right. Who signed off on that invoice?

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 78 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: Matters Arising out of Education Audits (Resumed) (10 Oct 2013)

John McGuinness: This is the invoice for Bel-Airways Limited, and the address, for €4,200. We will not mention the person's name, but it was queried by the secretary. Is that correct?

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 78 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: Matters Arising out of Education Audits (Resumed) (10 Oct 2013)

John McGuinness: Therefore there was the possibility of queries being raised on any of these invoices, and the query was raised. When it was being signed off, the only signature I can see on this is the finance manager's.

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 78 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: Matters Arising out of Education Audits (Resumed) (10 Oct 2013)

John McGuinness: I understand that but the fact is that the finance manager was in charge. That person, whoever it is, had to sign off and had to be satisfied. I am sure he or she would not put their signature to this without giving it consideration. It was considered. A query was raised, yet it was signed off by the finance person.

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 78 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: Matters Arising out of Education Audits (Resumed) (10 Oct 2013)

John McGuinness: That finance person could have decided not to sign off on it.

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 78 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: Matters Arising out of Education Audits (Resumed) (10 Oct 2013)

John McGuinness: I question that, because there are other instances here. I found one instance where there was a query as to why tickets were bought at Ticketmaster, if my recollection is correct. My understanding is that the president was asked to repay that and he did so. That is proof positive that there was a system in which if enough fuss was made about a matter it would be repaid, or it would be...

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 78 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: Matters Arising out of Education Audits (Resumed) (10 Oct 2013)

John McGuinness: I understand that. I wish to emphasise, because we will have to consider this after we finish our hearing, that the chairman said this. We are acknowledging that there was a breakdown in systems, but there was also a breakdown in terms of the people who served on the governing body and on the internal audit committee. That must be acknowledged too. There is a further acknowledgement that...