Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 24 February 2026
1022. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health in the absence of an internal audit or evaluation since 2020 of the adequacy of governance and oversight arrangements for non-statutory bodies funded directly by her Department, if any review is now planned; and, if so, to state the anticipated timeframe and scope. [14678/26]
Amharc ar fhreagraAs non-statutory bodies are external to my Department, my Department relies on reputable external third party audit firms to review the three small non-statutory agencies concerned.
The decision on what policy units to audit within my Department is based on a risk-based approach as determined by the management of the Internal Audit Unit.
Where risk is assessed as lower, then the Unit will be subject to less frequent audits. The grants paid to non-statutory bodies are around €5 million. The non-statutory bodies are public interest, not-for-profit organisations involved in the provision of patient welfare services and safe food with no adverse audit findings and as such are assessed as lower risk.
If policy units responsible for governance and oversight have not been subject to internal audit over recent years it is due to their lower risk profile. This is common practice in both the public and private sector.
Similar to other organisations, it is not the practice of the Internal Audit Unit to announce in advance their planned audit program on the basis that this would seriously undermine the benefit from conducting such audit.
