Hildegarde Naughton (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome yesterday’s announcement by the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform on the new requirements for the management of grant funding provided out of public moneys. These new rules will ensure transparency, accountability and value for money. It should be noted the new requirements apply to all funding received out of the Exchequer, no matter how that money is distributed. Four important principles will guide the bodies, namely, clarity, fairness, governance and value for money.

Most significantly, bodies that receive grants will have to publish details of their employees’ and executives’ salaries exceeding €60,000 per annum. This will apply even when the salaries are not funded by the Exchequer. While I hope these new rules will not have a disproportionate impact on smaller bodies, I welcome the Minister’s action in moving to ensure proper standards of accountability for these bodies and public moneys are in place.