Minutes of Proceedings of the thirteenth meeting of the Public Accounts Committee held in Room 144 Parliament Buildings on Monday 25th February 2002

Members Present:
Mr B Bell (Chairperson)
Mr Beggs
Ms Carrick
Mr Close
Mr Dallat
Mr Hilditch
Mr McClelland

Apologies:
Ms Armitage
Ms Morrice
Mr O'Connor
Ms Ramsey

In Attendance:
Mr M Rickard (Committee Clerk)
Mr J Campbell (Assistant Committee Clerk)
Ms J Duffin

1. Introduction

The Chairman commenced proceedings by welcoming Mr John Dowdall, the Comptroller and Auditor General (C&AG), and his staff. He explained that given the unprecedented press interest in the forthcoming NIAO Report on the Northern Ireland Tourist Board Accounts 2000-01, he had decided to request the C&AG to give members a presentation to highlight the main issues.

2. Presentation by Mr. John Dowdall, Comptroller and Auditor General (C&AG) and his staff on the NIAO Report on Northern Ireland Tourist Board Accounts 2000/01

The C&AG gave a brief outline on what he considered to be the main conclusions drawn from the Report. Following the C&AG's introduction, Mr Donnelly gave a talk which detailed the main issues in the Report. During the presentation he addressed a number of queries raised by the members.

Following the presentation, the Chairman emphasised the need for members to give a considered response to any press/media approaches, given that the Committee would not take evidence on the report until 30^th May 2002.

The meeting was then drawn to a close at 12:10pm.

B Bell
Committee Chairman
17 April 2002