Public Expenditure Policy

Thursday, 30 April 2026

Questions (274)

Barry Heneghan

Question:

274. Deputy Barry Heneghan asked the Minister for Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation whether there is an agreed and widely used system that acts as a unique identifier for each non-Government organisation, charity, voluntary/community organisation or approved housing body to enable traceability of public funds; and if not, if plans are underway to develop such a system. [31736/26]

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Written answers

Minister for Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation

As the Deputy may be aware, there is a strict control and accountability framework in place for the use of public monies including grants to non-government organisations. The objective of the framework is to ensure that all public monies are expended for the purpose of and in accordance with the laws under which they were approved. The fundamental principle is that there should be transparency and accountability in the management of public money, in line with economy, efficiency and effectiveness.

All Secretaries General are Accounting Officers. In their Accounting Officer role, Secretaries General are responsible for the stewardship of public funds including grants to non-government organisations under Public Financial Procedures and Circular 13/2014 “Management of and Accountability for Grants from Exchequer Funds”. It is, of course, a matter for each Department and Office of Government concerned to ensure that there are appropriate oversight arrangements and structures in place to ensure that public funds granted to non-government bodies are used for the purposes agreed in each grant’s Service Level Agreement. It is the responsibility of each Accounting Officer to ensure that sufficient financial reporting mechanisms, internal controls and audit systems are in place to ensure grants to non-government organisations are properly accounted for and provide value for money.

In relation to a unique identifier, non-government organisations that meet the definition of a charity are already required to register with the Charities Regulator and those that do are given a unique registration number.