Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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324. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform if he will, in respect of his Department's audit committee, provide details of its current membership; the date of appointment of each member; the fees paid to each member; if members of the committee are required to hold certain professional qualifications; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [4222/14]

Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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There are five members on the Audit Committee  of my Department, as follows: Mr Aidan Horan (Chairperson, Non-Executive Member). Mr Horan is a Director of the Institute of Public Administration (IPA) and is a qualified accountant.   As Mr Horan is a serving public servant, Mr Horan's employer (the IPA) was paid €2,062.17 in fees in respect of Mr Horan's work on the Committee for 2013. Mr Horan was appointed on the 1st January 2012. Mr John Neary (Non-Executive Member) Mr Neary is a Director with GE Capital.  Mr Neary waived all fees in respect of 2013.  Mr Neary was appointed on the 1^st January 2012. Mr Joe Treacy (Non-Executive Member) - Mr Treacy is a Director in the Central Statistics Office. As a serving civil servant, Mr  Treacy does not receive any fee in respect of his work on the Committee.  Mr Treacy was appointed on the 25^th October 2013. Mr William Beausang (Executive Member). Mr Beausang is an Assistant Secretary in the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform.  As a serving civil servant, Mr Beausang does not receive any fee in respect of his work on the Committee.  Mr Beausang was appointed on the 1^st January 2012. Ms Kathryn SmIth (Executive Member). Ms Smith is Head of Operations for the Office of Government Procurement.  As a serving civil servant, Ms Smith does not receive any fee in respect of work on the Audit Committee.  Ms. Smith was appointed on 24 January 2014.

While there is no explicit requirement for Members of the Committee to hold certain   professional qualifications,  Members of the Committee are selected on the basis of  either  their knowledge  of or experience in an auditing, accounting or business-related and/or public sector function.  The Head of the Internal Audit unit in my Department is the Chief Audit Executive and agrees the work programme of the Internal Audit Unit with the Audit Committee.  All the professional auditing staff in the Internal Audit Unit are qualified accountants.