The Public Accounts Committee has recommended that “appropriate sanctions” be introduced to punish government departments and agencies which fail “to comply with government policy in relation to public procurement".

The third periodic report from the Oireachtas committee says that the failure of government departments and agencies to comply with public procurement policy is a recurring theme, and that it intends to return to the issue until it is resolved. 

The PAC met several agencies between January 25 and May 3 last, including the Valuation Office, the National Shared Service Office, the Department of Rural and Community Development, the Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government, the Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, the Department of Finance, the Department of Justice and Equality, the Department of the Taoiseach, and RTÉ.

On RTE, the committee says that the television licensing system be reviewed “as a matter of urgency” with a view to bringing down evasion rates, which reached 15% in 2016.

Unacceptable Waste

In Association with

Among other areas of state spending and behaviour the PAC is disturbed by is the case in which the Probation Service wasted almost €4m in public funds by leasing a building in Dublin which it never occupied, then failed to take action when it was advised that planning permission was on the point of expiring. 

The report describes the loss as an “unacceptable waste of taxpayers’ money”.

Committee chairman Sean Fleming TD (pictured) said: “When asked to provide detail on its role in the loss of €3.89m of public funds, the Chief State Solicitor’s Office cited ‘legal professional privilege’. 

“This prevented the Committee fully scrutinising the matter. The Committee recommends that the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform examines barriers presented by claims of legal professional privilege that might prevent full accountability for the use of public funds.”

Motor Tax

Motorists may benefit from another recommendation. Pointing to the penalty imposed on those who do not pay their motor tax in one annual payment, and saying that the amount exacted from those who pay biannually or quarterly is way in excess of the real cost of the transaction, which it estimates at €5, the PAC says these charges should be replaced by a “processing fee, which should be limited to a maximum of €5 per transaction”.

As well as changes in the Dormant Accounts Fund system, the PAC wants a review of “the flows of funds from central government to local government to simplify the process”, which it describes as “overly complicated and disjointed, making it difficult to follow, and difficult to determine if value for money is being achieved”.