Policing, Security and Community Safety Act 2024
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Functions of audit committee | ||
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75. (1) The audit committee shall, on and after the relevant day, have the following functions: | ||
(a) to advise the Garda Commissioner on governance and financial matters relating to his or her functions under this Act and any other enactment; | ||
(b) to report in writing at least once in every year to the Garda Commissioner on the matters referred to in paragraph (a) and on the activities of the committee in the previous year and provide a copy of that report to the Board and the Minister; | ||
(c) to advise the Board on governance and financial matters relating to its functions; | ||
(d) to report in writing at least once in every year to the Board on the matters referred to in paragraph (c) and provide a copy of that report to the Minister. | ||
(2) The functions of the audit committee under paragraphs (a) and (c) of subsection (1) shall include the provision of advice regarding the following matters: | ||
(a) the proper implementation of Government guidelines on governance and financial issues; | ||
(b) compliance by An Garda Síochána with— | ||
(i) section 67 and subsections (4) and (5) of section 69 , and | ||
(ii) any other obligations imposed by law relating to governance and financial matters; | ||
(c) compliance by the Garda Commissioner with section 40 ; | ||
(d) the appropriateness, effectiveness and efficiency of the procedures of An Garda Síochána relating to— | ||
(i) public procurement, | ||
(ii) seeking sanction for expenditure and compliance with that sanction, | ||
(iii) the acquisition, holding and disposal of assets, | ||
(iv) risk management, | ||
(v) financial reporting, | ||
(vi) internal audits, | ||
(vii) the prevention of fraud, | ||
(viii) the prevention of corruption, | ||
(ix) protected disclosures, and | ||
(x) such other matters as the Board may determine. | ||
(3) Subject to subsection (7), the audit committee shall meet at least 4 times in each year and may invite any person it considers appropriate (whether that person is or is not a member of garda personnel) to attend a meeting of the committee. | ||
(4) The Garda Commissioner shall— | ||
(a) ensure that the audit committee is provided with An Garda Síochána’s audit reports, audit plans and monthly reports on expenditure, and | ||
(b) where he or she has reason to suspect that any material misappropriation of the money for which he or she is accounting officer or any fraudulent conversion or misapplication of An Garda Síochána’s property may have taken place, report that matter to the audit committee as soon as practicable. | ||
(5) The Garda Commissioner shall furnish to the audit committee information, on any financial matter or procedure necessary for the performance of its functions when requested to do so by the audit committee, including where such information relates to— | ||
(a) any contract that the Garda Commissioner proposes to enter into involving expenditure of an amount in excess of a threshold specified by the committee, or | ||
(b) any legal proceedings or prospective legal proceedings against the Garda Commissioner that may give rise to potential financial liability. | ||
(6) The audit committee may, on its own initiative or at the request of the Board, review the effectiveness of the audit committee and make a report thereon to the Board. | ||
(7) A meeting of the former audit committee held in the same year as the year in which the relevant day falls shall count as a meeting of the audit committee for the purposes of subsection (3). | ||
(8) In this section and section 76 — | ||
“former audit committee” means the audit committee established pursuant to section 44 of the Act of 2005; | ||
“relevant day” means the day on which the audit committee is established by the Board under section 74 . |