Michael Fitzmaurice (Roscommon-Galway, Independent)
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124. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the number of requests his Department received from the Office of Comptroller and Auditor General seeking approval for the recruitment of extra staff since 1 January 2018; the number of requests that are approved or refused; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [38571/19]

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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As the Deputy will be aware, the Revised Estimates Volume 2019 provided €14,638,000 (Gross) for the operation of the Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General. This allocation was provided following consideration of a business case received from the Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General.

This allocation represented an increase of some €661,000 (5%) on the gross amount of €13,977,000 for the operation of the Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General for 2018.

The year on year increase was driven, in part, by the Office’s need to increase their staff complement to further increase capacity in their examination and reporting programme.

Furthermore, and in line with the estimates process, I wish to inform the Deputy that a budgetary submission has been received by my Department from the Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General regarding Budget 2020. This submission is currently under consideration by officials within my Department and the Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General will be informed of their budgetary allocation for 2020 as a matter of course.