The Government was yesterday urged to expand the role of the Comptroller and Auditor General to allow him to scrutinise the spending of local authorities following a controversial proposed land deal in Co Cork.
Green Party spokesman on finance and member of the Public Accounts Committee, Dan Boyle TD said the present system doesn't allow the Comptroller and Auditor General examine the spending of local authorities.
Mr Boyle said the current inquiry by Cork County Council into its proposed purchase of 20 acres of land at Charleville in north Cork for €3.6 million more than had been sought for it just months earlier, highlighted the need for a change in the system.
"The amounts of expenditure going through local authorities demands that they be audited and be held accountable," he said.
Mr Boyle said the Comptroller and Auditor General had the powers to examine whether local authorities were getting value for money in projects involving European or National Roads Authority funding, but not when spending exclusively their own money.