Feargal Quinn (Independent)

I move amendment No. 21:

In page 41, subsection (5), line 15, after "Oireachtas" to insert "not later than 30th April each year".

I wish to explain the background to this amendment. Section 37(5) states:

A copy of the accounts referred to in subsection (4) and the report of the Comptroller and Auditor General thereon shall, immediately after the audit of the Comptroller and Auditor General, be presented to the members of the Authority and to the Minister as soon as practicable and the Minister shall cause a copy of these documents to be laid before each House of the Oireachtas.

I am suggesting that we add the words "not later than 30th April each year". When I was first elected to the House some 15 years ago, I realised that many reports which had been audited and passed by various authorities were handed to the Minister of the day who sometimes sat on them. When I was chairman of An Post, I said we should set an example of promptness in order that semi-State bodies would have standards equal to the best standards in the private sector. We discovered that a number of Ministers did not use the necessary alacrity to reach that sort of level. In other words, on many occasions State-sponsored bodies might have accounts audited, finished, approved and passed on to the Minister who then sat on them. I am obviously not referring to the current Minister, but I am talking about future Ministers. Since it has become commonplace, I have tabled such amendments for practically every State body. The purpose of the amendment is to ensure there will be no delay in laying accounts before the Oireachtas and that the Department will not be allowed to sit on them. The provision is now standard in new legislation. In addition, it has been provided for in many Bills that have come though the House in the past ten years since I have sought this provision. I inserted the date of 30 April, but I am not insisting on that particular date. Where I have previously sought a provision for laying accounts or reports before the Oireachtas within three months, the Minister has usually accepted a delay within six months of the end of the year. On that basis therefore I am not tied to 30 April, but I believe the proposal is necessary. As regards current and future Ministers, it will ensure we have standards in State-sponsored bodies that are equal to if not better than those in the private sector. The amendment would ensure the Oireachtas could see the accounts concerned within a reasonable timeframe.

On one occasion in January about ten years ago, I sought the RTE accounts — not for the previous year, but for the one before that — which had not yet been published by the Minister. I have experienced such difficulties with Ministers of the day sometimes sitting on accounts and not passing them. I urge the Minister of State to give serious consideration to this matter. I would happily accept that if what I am trying to achieve is recognised and approved, the date of 30 April does not necessarily have to be adhered to. The board must hand over the accounts to the Minister by 30 March, which would give the Minister one month to approve them. I urge the Minister of State to accept this amendment.