Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein)
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554. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government to make a statement on the findings of the critical review on merging the local government audit service into the Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General. [44153/15]

Alan Kelly (Tipperary North, Labour)
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In accordance with the Public Service Reform Plan, a critical review on merging the Local Government Audit Service (LGAS) into the Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General (OCAG) was initiated in 2012 in the context of consideration of agency rationalisation generally. The work of the Group was overtaken by a Government decision in October of that year that the LGAS and the OCAG should not be merged. In light of the Government’s definitive policy position, the work of the review group was brought to a conclusion in advance of reporting.

The Government’s finalised policy approach in relation to local government reform, as set out in Putting People First – Action Programme for Effective Local Government, provided for major changes to structures, roles, functions, funding, governance and accountability in local government taking account, inter alia, of the appropriate interplay between local, regional and national policy considerations, including the establishment of a new National Oversight and Audit Commission (NOAC). Arising from work on these matters, new arrangements were agreed for enhanced cooperation between the LGAS and the OCAG, taking account of their separate independent statutory responsibilities.