Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

This amendment concerns section 75 of Bill, which sets out the functions of the audit committee of the proposed new Garda board. Its purpose is to align the provisions in subsections (1)(c) and (2)(b) with those in subsection (1)(a) with regard to what matters the audit committee will provide advice on. As currently drafted, the committee will advise the Garda Commissioner on governance and financial matters but only advise the board on financial matters. This amendment simply ensures that the audit committee will also advise the board on governance matters and therefore proposes that the word “governance” is added to subsection (1)(c) and subsection (2)(b). This is considered appropriate because a committee of the board should advise the board on all of its findings, whether they be financial, governance-based or otherwise.