Public Accounts Committee Chairman John McGuinness has said he will be seeking to hold a special meeting of the committee arising out of the serious accounting error confirmed by the Department of Finance today.
Deputy McGuinness said: “In the first instance the people need to know how this occurred, when it was discovered and how it was brought into the public domain. The impact on the country’s debt to GDP ratio, namely that it would be 2.3% lower as a result of the error being rectified, is very significant.
“I will be seeking to commence an investigation into this immediately with a view to establishing who was responsible for the error and should be held to account.
“To that end I have today asked the Clerk of the Public Accounts Committee to seek a report from each party, the Department of Finance and the NTMA. When this information is received, as I expect it will be in short order, this issue will be raised immediately with the appropriate accounting officers in each body before the Committee.
“The Public Accounts Committee must be able to get to the bottom of this and report on this matter to the Dáil,” concluded Deputy John McGuinness.