The Secretary General of the Department of Finance says he hopes to complete an internal review of a €3.6 billion accounting error by the end of the month.
Kevin Cardiff told a special sitting of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) the report would be completed by the line managers concerned and would include a quality assurance check.
The PAC meeting was called after it emerged that Ireland's debt level last year was €3.6 billion lower than previously reported due to an accounting error. This came after a loan from the National Treasury Management Agency to the Housing Finance Agency was wrongly counted as part of Ireland's external debt.
The committee later published a series of e-mail exchanges about the issue involving the department and the NTMA. In one e-mail to the NTMA, dated October 25, the department acknowledges the double counting, adding that it will "probably be reflected" in the pre-Budget outlook being published on November 4 (tomorrow).
Mr Cardiff told the committee a deeper and broader external review of systems and risk controls in the department would be compiled separately by the end of the year.
Fianna Fáil's John McGuinness and Seán Fleming expressed concerns that the matter was not raised by the National Treasury Management Agency at a PAC meeting two weeks ago.
The Secretary General denied that he deliberately withheld any information.
Deputy McGuinness, the PAC chairman, also called on the Minister for Finance to correct the record about a statement he made about the accounting error.
Deputy McGuinness said Michael Noonan had said publicly that the accounts had been signed off by the Comptroller & Auditor General. But Mr McGuinness said the C&AG did not sign off on the accounts, and that they were examined by Eurostat.
Mr Cardiff told the PAC he first became aware of the error last Friday. The NTMA says it first raised the anomaly last September in a series of at least three e-mails.
Cardiff asked to delay Europe departure
Independent TD Shane Ross asked Mr Cardiff if he would he delay his departure to the European Court of Auditors until the issue was settled. He asked for a guarantee on this, adding that Mr Cardiff should not leave the department "in a shambles".
Mr Cardiff said he would not give such a guarantee. He said he would not promise to stay until such time as this issue is resolved.
Sinn Féin's Mary Lou McDonald told the committee she did not have confidence in Mr Cardiff in his impending new role in Europe.
