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THE MINISTER for Finance says he hopes to publish the findings of two investigations into a €3.6 billion accounting error in state funds - but that they may not be released to the public, depending on legal advice about their contents.
The minister also said that an external review of the incident is under way.
The error saw €3.6 billion in state funds was counted twice in the government finances in 2010. The money was transferred between the National Treasury Management Agency and the Housing Finance Agency when it was counted twice.
The error led to controversy around the government’s support of the nomination of Department of Finance Secretary-General Kevin Cardiff for a place on the European Court of Auditors. Despite the controversy, Cardiff’s nomination was approved and he is due to take up the post on 1 March.
Responding to a question from Fianna Fáil TD Michael McGrath, Michael Noonan said on Tuesday that a draft of the internal report has been prepared by management in his department with assistance from the department’s internal audit unit.
The minister said that, following advice from the Attorney General, this draft “is being circulated to some of the parties involved who will be allowed sufficient time to provide their final comments on it.”
“Although this error was most regrettable, it was a statistical reporting discrepancy where our debt level was mistakenly stated as being higher than it actually was, but which had no impact on the 2011 budgetary deficit.”
Noonan said that Deloitte Consultants have been appointed to run an external inquiry into the incident and that is now under way. “I expect the external report to be finalised by the end of the first quarter of this year.”
“My intention is, subject to legal advice and in a timely manner, to submit both reports to the Committee of Public Accounts and make them public.”
McGrath said he believes the reports should be completed and published “without any further delay” to give the public “absolute clarity as to what exactly happened” and why the department did not pick up on the error sooner.
“There have been leaked reports in the media that the officials within the NTMA raised the issue with the Department of Finance on a number of occasions over many months but to no avail,” he said. “Details of all correspondence between the NTMA and the Department of Finance should be made public along with the report.”
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RTÉ has more “celebrity presenters “ ( loosely speaking) than good program content .TG4 do a much better job for a fraction of the price . Why are we funding the likes of Duffy and tubs with taxpayers money .. our money .
Nobody in their right mind would think these ego driven individuals deserve to be paid 10 times more than a nurse etc
A balanced and informative article with no discernible nudging in any direction! Can’t say the same for most articles on here. Thanks Mr. Kinsella. A breath of fresh air.
@Sean: It’s telling us what we already know. Carl will no doubt find his feet and a distinctive voice in this series, but I think he needs to add a wee bit more value.
@Sean: You are joking. (The title is heavily ironic, from a journalist). You know it. I know it.
I’m convincedc that he fabric of space ripped in half the first time cern turned on the large hydron collider and ever since we’ve diverged off into some other reality running parallel to the one we were originally in. This one is starting to increasingly feel like it’s someone elses nightmare. How do we wake ul from it?
@Zim Zimma: You think the University of Limerick is particularly badly affected?
The cardboard cut-out of O’Dalaigh sounds sensible.
Maybe RTE should have used one of Gaybo after he retired!
Reeling in the Years. Steely Dan. Cool band. Real musicians, with strange, twisted (poetic, philosophical?) lyrics.
“Your everlasting summer and you can see it fading fast
So you grab a piece of something that you think is gonna last.”
(Well, you wouldn’t even know a diamond if you held it in your hand
the things you think are precious I can’t understand.)
very topical. reminds me of Vladamir Putain, perhaps. (really has aged in the last short while. You can see it in his face, this last 6 months. Watch his face twitching when speaking to the camera. He knows he is lying, that his army is falling apart, and that he will be killed by one of his buddies, if his secret police don’g get him first. His chef, wotsisname for example, and the rest of his psychopath gang, kadyrov the freak, shuigin, etcetera, will cut him up, the moment he turns his back. He knows it. So he threatens the world with nuclear weapons. Threatens the extinction of life.
Another good tune is Black Friday. Very topical.
The lyrics about a grifter, a rip off merchant from inner city USA, (who plans to split to Australia before the law catches up with him), (He will live a life of luxury, with nothing to do but feed the kangaroos.). He hasn’t achieved it yet. You imagine he might probably end up in jail. With all his buddies.
(“When Black Friday comes, I’m gonna stake my claim, I’ll guess I’ll change my name.”) Next year we are having a global famine. with Ukraine water supply shut off. Remember that Vladimir Putin caused this.
(before you start speaking about migrants. Putain, Puto, or whatever you call him, will be responsible for that, the global famine, more than any other ‘human’ on this planet )
There are some real monsters in this world, who are born without conscience, without human feeling. They lie, manipulate and deceive. There are psychopaths who would easily kill you if you turn your back, if they get the idea.
Play station joy stick for controls enough said . RIP
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