Rónán Mullen (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for her reply but she is in the unfortunate position, as Ministers often are here, of having to deliver a speech on behalf of another Minister. I listened carefully but did not hear the answer to the core issue, which is whether an organisation that has not submitted audited accounts should be getting State money. The serious questions I have remain, namely, whether it is common practice that the HSE or the Department of Health would commit funding to organisations that have not filed audited accounts in successive years, whether the timely filing of audited accounts is not a condition of receiving funding in the first place and whether this is the only organisation that has been treated this way, which I would find hard to believe. Surely we all agree that every euro of taxpayers' money must be subject to the same controls and safeguards. It is no fault of the Minister of State but I am not happy that I have received any kind of response to the substance of the questions I have asked.