Thomas Gould (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein)
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36. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the reason that local authority audits are published with such a time lag; and if he plans to improve the speed at which these are carried out. [16733/22]

Peter Burke (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael)
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The statutory provisions concerning the consideration of annual financial statements and the report of the auditor are set out in section 121 of the Local Government Act 2001, as amended by section 60 of the Local Government Reform Act 2014, and in the Local Government (Financial and Audit Procedures) Regulations 2014. In accordance with the legislation, it is the responsibility of each local authority to furnish a copy of the audited financial statements and audit report to every member of the local authority and to publish these on its website. The timing of this process is a matter for the local authority concerned. My Department does not publish such audit reports until they have been provided to the elected members of the relevant local authority.