Planning and Development Act 2024

Accountability of chief executive officer to Committee of Public Accounts

519. (1) The chief executive officer shall, whenever required in writing to do so by the Committee of Public Accounts, give evidence to that Committee in relation to—

(a) the regularity and propriety of the transactions recorded or required to be recorded in any book or other record of account subject to audit by the Comptroller and Auditor General that the Commission is required by this Act to prepare or keep,

(b) the economy and efficiency of the Commission in the use of its resources,

(c) the systems, procedures and practices employed by the Commission for the purpose of evaluating the effectiveness of its operations, and

(d) any matter affecting the Commission referred to in a special report of the Comptroller and Auditor General under subsection (2) of section 11 of the Comptroller and Auditor General (Amendment) Act 1993 , or in any other report of the Comptroller and Auditor General (in so far as it relates to a matter specified in paragraph (a), (b) or (c)) that is laid before Dáil Éireann.

(2) In the performance of his or her duties under this section, the chief executive officer shall not question or express an opinion on the merits of any policy of the Government or a Minister of the Government or on the merits of the objectives of such a policy.

(3) In appearing before the Committee of Public Accounts, the chief executive officer appears as a person accountable to the Committee and not as an accounting officer.

(4) If the chief executive officer is unable to attend before the Committee of Public Accounts he or she or, in the chief executive officer’s absence, the Governing Board, may nominate a senior officer of the Commission to attend on behalf of the chief executive officer and this section shall apply to a person so nominated.