Results 7,541-7,560 of 10,867 for speaker:Patrick O'Donovan

Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements of the Higher Education Authority 2013
General Report No. 85 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: Accountability and Governance on the National College of Art and Design (22 Jan 2015)

Patrick O'Donovan: That is one accountant for a €1.2 billion budget.

Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements of the Higher Education Authority 2013
General Report No. 85 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: Accountability and Governance on the National College of Art and Design (22 Jan 2015)

Patrick O'Donovan: There are two accountants for a €1.2 billion budget.

Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements of the Higher Education Authority 2013
General Report No. 85 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: Accountability and Governance on the National College of Art and Design (22 Jan 2015)

Patrick O'Donovan: Is that sufficient, in Mr. Boland's estimation?

Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements of the Higher Education Authority 2013
General Report No. 85 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: Accountability and Governance on the National College of Art and Design (22 Jan 2015)

Patrick O'Donovan: Surely the HEA's role in governance extends to financial governance, which is what the report is geared towards.

Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements of the Higher Education Authority 2013
General Report No. 85 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: Accountability and Governance on the National College of Art and Design (22 Jan 2015)

Patrick O'Donovan: How can two people with a €1.2 billion budget adequately sign off on matters and say they are satisfied that all the institutions covered by the authority have proper governance models?

Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements of the Higher Education Authority 2013
General Report No. 85 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: Accountability and Governance on the National College of Art and Design (22 Jan 2015)

Patrick O'Donovan: That is retrospective.

Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements of the Higher Education Authority 2013
General Report No. 85 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: Accountability and Governance on the National College of Art and Design (22 Jan 2015)

Patrick O'Donovan: The HEA carried out a review of financial statements.

Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements of the Higher Education Authority 2013
General Report No. 85 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: Accountability and Governance on the National College of Art and Design (22 Jan 2015)

Patrick O'Donovan: For example, did it carry out a review of the financial statement into the National College of Art and Design, NCAD, in 2005 and 2006?

Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements of the Higher Education Authority 2013
General Report No. 85 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: Accountability and Governance on the National College of Art and Design (22 Jan 2015)

Patrick O'Donovan: It is probably fair to say that as more requirements were being placed on institutions to carry out particular work relating to governance, the delays in which certified accounts were provided lengthened. The delay in 2004 and 2005 was five months - which could be seen as fantastic - but this went to 39 months. In reviewing 2008 and 2009, when the HEA knew that there was no set of certified...

Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements of the Higher Education Authority 2013
General Report No. 85 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: Accountability and Governance on the National College of Art and Design (22 Jan 2015)

Patrick O'Donovan: Mr. Roche has had conversations about certified accounts with the NCAD between 2009 and now but what action has been taken as we knew there were no certified accounts?

Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements of the Higher Education Authority 2013
General Report No. 85 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: Accountability and Governance on the National College of Art and Design (22 Jan 2015)

Patrick O'Donovan: Did the authority ask, for example, how many times the audit committee met?

Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements of the Higher Education Authority 2013
General Report No. 85 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: Accountability and Governance on the National College of Art and Design (22 Jan 2015)

Patrick O'Donovan: Was it not seen as important to ask that?

Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements of the Higher Education Authority 2013
General Report No. 85 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: Accountability and Governance on the National College of Art and Design (22 Jan 2015)

Patrick O'Donovan: It would have been seen as important to ask that but it was not asked?

Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements of the Higher Education Authority 2013
General Report No. 85 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: Accountability and Governance on the National College of Art and Design (22 Jan 2015)

Patrick O'Donovan: Did Mr. Roche at any stage ask Professor McGonagle or previous directors at NCAD how many times the audit committee met?

Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements of the Higher Education Authority 2013
General Report No. 85 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: Accountability and Governance on the National College of Art and Design (22 Jan 2015)

Patrick O'Donovan: Why not?

Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements of the Higher Education Authority 2013
General Report No. 85 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: Accountability and Governance on the National College of Art and Design (22 Jan 2015)

Patrick O'Donovan: I am referring specifically to this institution. The HEA does a very detailed analysis but I presume the first box to be ticked in any analysis is whether there is a certified set of accounts.

Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements of the Higher Education Authority 2013
General Report No. 85 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: Accountability and Governance on the National College of Art and Design (22 Jan 2015)

Patrick O'Donovan: With that yes-or-no question, the answer was "No" for five years.

Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements of the Higher Education Authority 2013
General Report No. 85 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: Accountability and Governance on the National College of Art and Design (22 Jan 2015)

Patrick O'Donovan: That is five years ago. For the past five years, in the conversations with people from NCAD, did Mr. Roche did not ask at any stage how many times the audit committee had met? Better still, did he not ask why the accounts were not ready?

Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements of the Higher Education Authority 2013
General Report No. 85 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: Accountability and Governance on the National College of Art and Design (22 Jan 2015)

Patrick O'Donovan: I asked Mr. Roche and maybe he would like to comment.

Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements of the Higher Education Authority 2013
General Report No. 85 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: Accountability and Governance on the National College of Art and Design (22 Jan 2015)

Patrick O'Donovan: That is not the question I asked. I know there is an audit committee and that such a committee is required under the code of governance. Given that he knew for five years that there were no certified accounts, there are obviously problems in the institution. One does not have to be a rocket scientist to figure that out. Did anybody in the HEA, which over this timeframe pumped €100...