Phil Hogan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I do not hold any remit for private companies limited by guarantee but Senator Ó Clochartaigh knows that the directors of those companies are obliged under company law to conform with the various aspects of community law. Whether they are limited by guarantee or not they are still under the umbrella of the Companies Acts in which there are very serious responsibilities for directors, which they did not always realise when they were taking up these voluntary positions. As directors they are still obliged to comply with the law under the Companies Acts. They have very serious responsibilities in terms of financing and so on. I assure the Senator that any of the audits that threw up problems identified by Pobal were dealt with but there was over-expenditure on administration. Too much money is being spent on administration in these companies and we intend to streamline that. The money we have available for local development companies will be spent on projects, not on unnecessary administration, which can be duplicated with local government. The integration of these services and alignment with local government will mean more money for front-line services, and hopefully more opportunities in the community in terms of capacity building and animation to help people in the communities, not setting up a super structure. We have identified problems in a small number of companies in terms of their finances. Most companies do a good job but in my view too much money is being spent on administration by all companies.