Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 14 May 2026
273. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation whether his Department holds any central dataset identifying all non-statutory bodies in receipt of Exchequer funding; and if not, whether he considers this a weakness in central public expenditure oversight. [36326/26]
Amharc ar fhreagra274. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation whether his Department has examined the feasibility of establishing a central register of all non-statutory bodies receiving public funding, including the amount received and the governance framework applicable to each body. [36327/26]
Amharc ar fhreagra279. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation whether his Department has undertaken any cross-Government review of public funding to companies limited by guarantee that are legally independent of Government but substantially funded by the State. [36332/26]
Amharc ar fhreagra280. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation whether his Department has identified any risk arising from the absence of a single central register linking public funding, governance obligations and audit arrangements for non-statutory bodies. [36333/26]
Amharc ar fhreagraI propose to take Questions Nos. 273, 274, 279 and 280 together.
My Department engages with other spending Departments and Offices in respect of the management of expenditure within the agreed overall fiscal parameters. Managing the delivery of public services, within budgetary allocations, is the responsibility of each Accounting Officer, who are required to ensure that appropriate measures are in place to facilitate financial control within budgetary targets as well as value for money.
As the Deputy is aware, under Public Financial Procedures and Circular 13/2014, Accounting Officers are responsible for the stewardship of public funds including grants to non-statutory bodies that operate within their Department's public services sector. It is, of course, a matter for each Department and Office of Government themselves to decide how best to deliver public services from the monies appropriated to them by Dáil Éireann which includes deciding whether to grant non-statutory bodies funds to deliver public services on behalf of their Department. In doing so, it is the responsibility of each Accounting Officer to ensure that there are appropriate oversight arrangements and structures in place to ensure that public funds granted to non-statutory bodies are used for the purposes agreed in each grant’s Service Level Agreement and to ensure that sufficient financial reporting mechanisms, internal controls and audit systems are in place to ensure grants to non-statutory bodies are properly accounted for and provide value for money.
Furthermore, the Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General audits the correctness of expenditure under the control of each individual Accounting Officer and well as reporting on the economy and efficiency of public expenditure by Government Departments.
Consequently, my Department has no plans to provide funding to develop a separate central register of all non-statutory bodies on the basis firstly that, the CSO already publish a comprehensive register that includes such bodies and secondly, as outlined above that it is the responsibility of each Accounting Officer of a Government Department to ensure that value for money is achieved from grants to these bodies and that these bodies have appropriate governance arrangements for their sector.
