Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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194. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform further to Parliamentary Question No. 273 of 20 March 2025, to provide the total cost to the Department of the secondment, the Civil Service grade or equivalent of the secondment, the procedure for advertising and procuring a secondment and the rationale for using a secondment rather than producing auditing services; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14640/25]

Jack Chambers (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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I wish to clarify to the Deputy that the eight-month external audit support from Mazars as set out in my response to Parliamentary Question No. 273 was in fact procured by my Department under the Multi Supplier Framework Agreements for the Provision of Accounting, Audit and Financial Advisory Services. The information initially provided by my Department, that this was a secondment, was incorrect due to an administrative error and I welcome the opportunity to correct this and provide the Deputy with the additional information below.

This audit placement was required for a specific purpose and the audit skills were of a specialist nature and unavailable in the Department at that time. The grade required was the equivalent to the Civil Service grade of Professional Accountant Grade II. The temporary external audit support required was procured by the Department under the Office of Government Procurement Multi Supplier Framework Agreements for the Provision of Accounting, Audit and Financial Advisory Services, which was advertised on eTenders. The number of days worked was 143 days over eight months. The auditor in question worked as an integrated part of an audit team and was supervised in-house by an audit manager. The total cost of works procured was €92,342, including VAT.