Results 16,241-16,260 of 26,402 for speaker:David Cullinane

Public Accounts Committee: Report of Comptroller and Auditor General 2016
Chapter 19 - Management and Oversight of Grants to Health Agencies (26 Oct 2017)

David Cullinane: I have lost my pen and a mountain of paperwork but that is okay. I welcome back the witnesses who have been here previously and I also welcome the new witnesses. I will start with Mr. Flynn. Does he work for internal audit?

Public Accounts Committee: Report of Comptroller and Auditor General 2016
Chapter 19 - Management and Oversight of Grants to Health Agencies (26 Oct 2017)

David Cullinane: First of all, I wish to say well done on what is a good job and on the information that has been provided to us. As the director general has said, it is quite limited as the HSE cannot audit every organisation, but Mr. Flynn has provided the Comptroller and Auditor General's office and, as a consequence of that, us with valuable information. Specifically, what does internal audit check for...

Public Accounts Committee: Report of Comptroller and Auditor General 2016
Chapter 19 - Management and Oversight of Grants to Health Agencies (26 Oct 2017)

David Cullinane: Would it be fair to say in broad terms that internal audit looks at compliance issues?

Public Accounts Committee: Report of Comptroller and Auditor General 2016
Chapter 19 - Management and Oversight of Grants to Health Agencies (26 Oct 2017)

David Cullinane: That would be issues relating to systems, practices and procedures. Policy is a matter for the executive and others and not necessarily a matter for internal audit. There are set procedures for internal audit to follow.

Public Accounts Committee: Report of Comptroller and Auditor General 2016
Chapter 19 - Management and Oversight of Grants to Health Agencies (26 Oct 2017)

David Cullinane: Absolutely. This question is for Mr. O'Brien then. Would there be a separation of roles in relation to internal audit, the compliance unit and the HSE executive? As has been said, internal audit would examine compliance but it would not enforce it as that is not its job, which is to report. Whose job is it to enforce compliance?

Public Accounts Committee: Report of Comptroller and Auditor General 2016
Chapter 19 - Management and Oversight of Grants to Health Agencies (26 Oct 2017)

David Cullinane: Okay, so it would be the compliance unit.

Public Accounts Committee: Report of Comptroller and Auditor General 2016
Chapter 19 - Management and Oversight of Grants to Health Agencies (26 Oct 2017)

David Cullinane: Where would the buck stop in terms of enforcement?

Public Accounts Committee: Report of Comptroller and Auditor General 2016
Chapter 19 - Management and Oversight of Grants to Health Agencies (26 Oct 2017)

David Cullinane: Would that be the organisation that receives the funding?

Public Accounts Committee: Report of Comptroller and Auditor General 2016
Chapter 19 - Management and Oversight of Grants to Health Agencies (26 Oct 2017)

David Cullinane: Is Mr. O'Brien talking about the difference between CHOs and structures in the HSE?

Public Accounts Committee: Report of Comptroller and Auditor General 2016
Chapter 19 - Management and Oversight of Grants to Health Agencies (26 Oct 2017)

David Cullinane: However, it would be elements or units of the HSE that would be responsible for enforcement.

Public Accounts Committee: Report of Comptroller and Auditor General 2016
Chapter 19 - Management and Oversight of Grants to Health Agencies (26 Oct 2017)

David Cullinane: Ultimately, the buck would stop with Mr. O'Brien as the Accounting Officer accounting back to the Committee of Public Accounts.

Public Accounts Committee: Report of Comptroller and Auditor General 2016
Chapter 19 - Management and Oversight of Grants to Health Agencies (26 Oct 2017)

David Cullinane: Mr. O'Brien does not micromanage everything but in overall terms the buck would stop with him.

Public Accounts Committee: Report of Comptroller and Auditor General 2016
Chapter 19 - Management and Oversight of Grants to Health Agencies (26 Oct 2017)

David Cullinane: I turn to that section of the Comptroller and Auditor General's report which deals with the management and oversight of grants to health agencies. Perhaps we could get it up on the screen. It is the one just prior to page 275. It states that internal audit commenced a programme of random audits of agencies in receipt of funding less than €1 million. Will Mr. Flynn indicate if that...

Public Accounts Committee: Report of Comptroller and Auditor General 2016
Chapter 19 - Management and Oversight of Grants to Health Agencies (26 Oct 2017)

David Cullinane: Is it based on random audits?

Public Accounts Committee: Report of Comptroller and Auditor General 2016
Chapter 19 - Management and Oversight of Grants to Health Agencies (26 Oct 2017)

David Cullinane: It is difficult for us then to know whether they were random or audited.

Public Accounts Committee: Report of Comptroller and Auditor General 2016
Chapter 19 - Management and Oversight of Grants to Health Agencies (26 Oct 2017)

David Cullinane: How many audits were there that would have informed figure 19.11 in the summary?

Public Accounts Committee: Report of Comptroller and Auditor General 2016
Chapter 19 - Management and Oversight of Grants to Health Agencies (26 Oct 2017)

David Cullinane: Do we have a copy of the breakdown of those 19 audits?

Public Accounts Committee: Report of Comptroller and Auditor General 2016
Chapter 19 - Management and Oversight of Grants to Health Agencies (26 Oct 2017)

David Cullinane: Could we can get that up on the screen as well? This is then a combination of both random and what one would describe as targeted audits.

Public Accounts Committee: Report of Comptroller and Auditor General 2016
Chapter 19 - Management and Oversight of Grants to Health Agencies (26 Oct 2017)

David Cullinane: How many were done randomly and how many were targeted?

Public Accounts Committee: Report of Comptroller and Auditor General 2016
Chapter 19 - Management and Oversight of Grants to Health Agencies (26 Oct 2017)

David Cullinane: If we take literally what the Comptroller and Auditor General's report says, it says random. It does not say random and targeted. Will Mr. McCarthy say why that was? If we go back to page 275, we are talking specifically about the summary of the HSE internal audit findings for 2016. It does not even specify how many but we know it is 19 because we got the follow-up. The relevant...