Feargal Quinn (Independent)

I move amendment No. 26:

In page 18, subsection (2), line 4, to delete "6 months" and substitute "3 months".

I confess that when I saw this provision in the Bill I laughed. The subsection states:

Accounts kept in pursuance of this section shall be submitted not later than six months after the end of the accounting period to which they relate by the authority to the Comptroller and Auditor General for audit.

This does not refer to publishing or auditing accounts within six months but submitting accounts for audit within six months. I know the Minister has a strong sense of history but I assume his motivation is not to produce history books but rather books of account.

Speed of reporting is an essential component of accounting. I looked for RTE's annual accounts for 2001 today but they have not yet been published. It may be that RTE handed the books to the auditor three, four, five or eight months ago and they have remained there since. This Bill proposes to hand accounts to the auditor within six months but I want to see them published within three months.

There is no reason such accounts should not be ready within one month of the end of the financial year. Some of the biggest banks publish their accounts within days or hours of the end of the financial year. Since all well-run businesses keep accounts on a monthly basis, only one month's accounts would remain to be closed at the end of the financial year. On this occasion, I am not pushing to have the books sent for audit within one month – I am prepared to settle for three months. In doing so I am pursuing consistency – three months is the standard provided for in this type of legislation. In tabling these amendments, I looked at what has been provided for in other legislation and it is normally three months. I do not know where the six month period came from. Unless the Minister can make a convincing case that there is something unique about the accounts of the National Tourism Development Authority that do not apply to any other State body within the spectrum of the public service, I suggest he should accept this amendment.