Mary Upton (Dublin South Central, Labour)
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Question 227: To ask the Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism if an audit has been carried out to ensure that the tourism marketing fund is within best practice guidelines in terms of spending, placing of advertisements and value for money; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37584/09]

Martin Cullen (Waterford, Fianna Fail)
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The Tourism Marketing Fund is a subhead of the Vote of the Department of Arts, Sport and Tourism and, as such, is audited as part of the Departmental Vote in accordance with Article 33 of the Constitution, which provides for the Comptroller and Auditor General to audit all accounts of moneys administered by or under the authority of the Oireachtas.

Section 3 of the Comptroller and Auditor General (Amendment) Act 1993 provides the legislative base for this audit by imposing a duty on the Comptroller and Auditor General to audit in each year the Appropriation Accounts for the previous financial year by the Departments and Offices of State. Most recently, the Comptroller and Auditor General audited the 2008 Appropriation Account of my Department, which he certified on 19 September 2009.

In addition, the tourism bodies, which receive funding for overseas marketing under the Tourism Marketing Fund, are audited by the Comptroller and Auditor-General.