John Gormley (Dublin South East, Green Party)
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The Dublin Docklands Development Authority is a commercial semi-State body and has been financed from resources generated through the acquisition, development and sale of property. The Authority is established under the Dublin Docklands Development Authority Act 1997, which sets out the statutory functions and responsibilities of the Authority, including its financial reporting requirements.

My Department has a general oversight role in relation to the Authority, ensuring that it discharges its statutory mandate to revitalise and regenerate the Docklands area. The 1997 Act provides for a number of specific Ministerial oversight functions, for example,

the appointment of the Chairperson of the Authority, the other seven directors of the Executive Board, and members, of the Authority's Council;

sanction for borrowing up to an overall statutory limit of €127 million, with the agreement of the Minister for Finance,

the approval of Planning Schemes, and

determining the manner in which the Authority must keep its accounts and present audited accounts annually.

Under the provisions of the 1997 Act, the Authority must prepare an Annual Report and Audited Accounts for submission to the Minister prior to laying before both Houses of the Oireachtas. The Authority's accounts are audited by independent external auditors.

John Gormley (Dublin South East, Green Party)
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The Authority's accounts are audited by independent external auditors. Under existing legislation, the Authority, along with many other State and semi-State commercial bodies, is outside the remit of the Comptroller and Auditor General.

Last Autumn, I wrote to the Authority's Chair, who is an acknowledged expert in corporate governance matters, requesting that a comprehensive review of corporate governance arrangements within the Authority be undertaken. Consequently, the Authority commissioned two independent consultants' reports to assess its planning and financial procedures. These two reports, together with a covering report from the Authority's Board, were submitted to me at the beginning of February and are now being considered by my Department, in consultation with the Attorney General's Office.

I expect that the consideration of the reports will be completed within a matter of weeks, at which stage I will bring to Government proposals to respond appropriately to the issues raised. In that context, I will keep the issue of any future involvement on the part of the Comptroller and Auditor General under review. Any decision to bring the DDDA within the remit of the C&AG has potentially wider implications for other commercial State bodies and would need to be considered in that context also.

It is important to note that under existing arrangements, it is open to the Joint Oireachtas Committee on the Environment, Heritage and Local Government to request the Authority to appear before it, thus affording Oireachtas members an opportunity to question the Authority on its activities and outlook. The last such appearance by the Authority's Chair and Acting CEO took place as recently as 1 December 2009.