Dermot Byrne

Former Head of ERDF Audit Authority Department of Public Expenditure and Reform in the Republic of Ireland

Dermot is Former Head of the ERDF Audit Authority in the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform (DPER) in the Republic of Ireland.  He joined the Department in 1999 to set up an EU Structural Fund audit unit.  In 2011, the Unit merged with the Internal Audit function in the Department, and Dermot effectively took over leadership of the combined Unit.  The Unit is the internal audit provider to the two central finance ministries, DPER and the Ministry of Finance and is the designated Audit Authority for European Regional Development Funds in Ireland.

Up to 1999, Dermot worked in the Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General, where he managed the statutory audits of various government ministries and publicly funded bodies.  He holds an honours masters degree in public management and is a qualified accountant member of the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA) and a qualified internal auditor and member of the Institute of Internal Auditors (IIA).  He also holds a Qualification in Internal Audit.

Dermot has regularly contributed to training programmes in many EU member states and accession countries.  He is an associate expert with the Institute of Public Administration in Dublin and with the European Institute of Public Administration in Maastricht as well as being a regular expert at financial management seminars hosted by the European Commission.  He has also chaired the audit committees of two public sector bodies in Ireland.