Seán Fleming (Laois, Fianna Fail)
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28. To ask the Minister for Finance the position of the role of the Comptroller and Auditor General in 1924 and if this was an independent office or part of the Department of Finance at that stage; if records can be obtained regarding the persons who were the employees in the Comptroller and Auditor General's Office in that year and their respective duties; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [30037/16]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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The position of Comptroller and Auditor General (C & AG) was provided for both in the 1922 Irish Free State Constitution, which stated "Dáil Eireann shall appoint a Comptroller and Auditor-General to act on behalf of the Irish Free State (Saorstát Eireann). He shall control all disbursements and shall audit all accounts of moneys administered by or under the authority of the Oireachtas and shall report to Dáil Eireann at stated periods to be determined by law" and the Comptroller and Auditor General Act of 1923, which specified the appointment of "a Comptroller-General of the Receipt and Issue of the Exchequer of Saorstát Eireann and Auditor-General of Public Accounts who shall be styled and known as the Comptroller and Auditor-General (Árd-Scrúdóir) and who shall act on behalf of Saorstát Eireann."

The Act also states that "The Minister for Finance shall from time to time appoint the officers, clerks, and other persons in the Department of the Comptroller and Auditor-General and regulate the numbers, salaries and conditions of employment of the respective grades or classes into which such officers, clerks, and other persons shall be divided." It should be noted, however, that the Act gave the Comptroller and Auditor "full power to make from time to time orders and rules for the conduct of the internal business of his Department and to promote, suspend, or remove any of the officers, clerks, and other persons employed therein, and also, subject to the approval of the Minister for Finance, to make regulations and prescribe forms for the guidance of departments and persons in making up and rendering their accounts to him for examination."

Further the Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General is not among those listed as being among the branches of administration assigned to the Department of Finance in the Ministers and Secretaries Act 1924, an act often regarded as the founding document of the Department of Finance. The Comptroller and Auditor General Act of 1923 and the more recent Comptroller and Auditor General (Amendment) Act 1993 are the principal legislative instruments governing the C&AG. Both the Constitutional and legislative provisions ensure the absolute independence of the C&AG and the Office of the C&AG to operate independently of government.

In terms of records sought by the Deputy regarding persons who were the employees in the C&AG in 1924 such records may be held by the National Achieves of Ireland.