Analysis

Verona Murphy: Councils need to be accountable to Dáil spending watchdog ... here’s why

The taxpayer provides €6bn to run local authorities but there is little oversight of how these funds are spent or how county chief executives and senior managers act

Verona Murphy: ‘It is commonplace for local authorities to involve themselves in litigation defending the wasting of taxpayers money’. Picture: Dylan Vaughan

Did you know that you, the taxpayer, provides €6 billion annually to run our local authorities? Responsibility for the administration of these funds rests primarily with the local authorities and their finance committees. Oversight is provided by a little-known organisation called the National Audit and Oversight Commission (NOAC).

NOAC’s website confirms that its board is made up of three former politicians, two former county managers, an assistant secretary in the Department of Housing, a barrister ...