Nolan stokes up the fire to keep John McGuinness controversy rumbling on

Political World with Harry McGee

Just when we thought the John McGuinness story had finally run out of fuel Derek Nolan threw another tenner’s worth of petrol into the tank to give it a bit more mileage.

McGuinness is the chairman of the all-party Public Accounts Committee, otherwise known as the public spending watchdog.

It’s an unusual committee in a number of respects. It’s the only public committee where membership is confined to TDs – no Senators need apply.

Its main task is to ensure the taxpayer is getting value for money from State departments and institutions. Its hearing are based on annual (and other reports) prepared by the Comptroller and Auditor General, Seamus McCarthy. He is an independent State officer whose office conducts audits of all Government departments as well as other central government bodies and agencies (local authorities don’t come under the C&AG’s remit just yet). Most PAC hearings are based on a C&AG report, although the committee itself can also request that an investigation be carried out.

And there are many State institutions that have been spendthrift with other people’s (ie the taxpayers’) money. And many government policies that seemed a good idea at the time but  ended up costing the taxpayer millions. Examples? The wanton waste of public monies by FAS executive who jetted all over the world on expensive trips that had no obvious benefit to the State. And then there was one of those wink-and-nod side-deals during the benchmarking process (and it shows how deeply flawed that whole exercise was). The SIPTU skills fund had a waffly function, upskilling of some kind. But what it seemed to be was a slush fund – operated by a single SIPTU officer apparently without the knowledge of anybody else – which funded pointless junkets and jollies all over the world.

That’s what the PAC does well. It takes the accounting officer of whatever Government Department or State agency is involved and gets them to account for – and justify – overspending or a budget that spiralled out of control or inadequate checks on costs. Often that involves a grilling and a public dressing down.

The PAC has build up a big reputation over the years as the stand-out committee in Leinster House. For a backbench TD, to be chosen as a member means you have got the imprimatur of the leader. It has also built up a reputation (but there’s a bit of myth-making there) for its independence and robustness. The idea is that because it’s public money and because none of them want to see it being wasted unnecessarily and because it’s civil servants rather than politicians, sure don’t we all row in together.

Not partisan nor political? You must be joking. It is both but with maybe a small p. Sure, you do get the unusual phenomenon of government TDs criticising their own administration in reports, but not to the extent that you are saying: that guy is a rebel. It’s always been political.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.