Event: The Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General at 100
This talk by historian and archivist Marie Léoutre discussed the creation of the Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General in 1923 and examined how its staff led by the first post holder George McGrath, worked towards stabilising the State in the aftermath of the Civil War. The lecture also examined the modernisation of the Office and the challenges it rose to meet in the later part of the 20th century such as the establishment of the audit function in respect of the accounts of the National Army and effective Dáil oversight in the aftermath of the Civil War; resistance against threats to the independence of the role in the 1960s and the carrying out of complex investigations like the DIRT inquiry in the 1990s.
Biography
Marie Léoutre graduated from UCD in 2012 with a PhD in history and has since worked in various institutions in Dublin including Marsh’s Library and the Royal Irish Academy. She is a qualified archivist currently working in the National Archives, Ireland and has published a number of articles and books, the latest being a booklet marking the centenary of the establishment of the Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General in collaboration with the Royal Irish Academy, the National Archives and the Institute of Public Administration.