Director’s funding and spending oversight
The Minister said the Director’s funds came through the Department’s Vote and that allocation in the Vote did not itself authorize expenditure. Members questioned the absence of a separate Estimates subhead; the Minister said it offered flexibility and was not currently provided, while disputing that the Comptroller and Auditor General or Public Accounts Committee had a role.
asked the Minister for Industry, Commerce and Tourism if he will outline the manner in which moneys are allocated to the Director of Consumer Affairs, and if ministerial sanction is required for the expending of such moneys.
Comment on this
Moneys are allocated for the office of the Director of Consumer Affairs through the vote for the Department of Industry, Commerce and Tourism in the same way as for other offices also funded by me and independent in law in discharge of their function such as the Office of the Examiner of Restrictive Practices, the Restrictive Practices Commission and the Registry of Friendly Societies.
However, the provision of moneys in a Vote does not of itself constitute authority to spend. Furthermore, section 27 of the Consumer Information Act, 1978, provides that "the expenses incurred by ... the Director in the administration of this Act, shall, to such extent as may be sanctioned by the Minister for Finance be paid out of moneys provided by the Oireachtas". The requirement to procure the sanction of the Minister for Finance is not unusual and I do not expect that this will constitute an undue constraint on the activities of the director.
Comment on this
Might I ask the Minister if, as was expected, the Office of the Director of Consumer Affairs will have a specific subhead in the Estimates published annually, because he is lumped in with the Minister's allocation and nobody can know, except through Parliamentary Question, what this particular office is getting?
Comment on this
I would imagine that it is probably because the office is only being set up at present and what is likely to be expended there could not be foretold with any accuracy. I do not know whether after the office has been in existence for some time it will have a separate subhead. It allows greater financial flexibility to operate under the general Vote of the Department.
Comment on this
Will the Minister seek the sanction or approval of the Committee of Public Accounts and the Comptroller and Auditor General for the inclusion of a different subhead?
Comment on this
I do not think that the Comptroller and Auditor General or the Committee of Public Accounts have anything to do with it.