The EU's spending watchdog, the European Court of Auditors, will have to be reformed if it is to cope with future challenges, the Oireachtas has been told.
Each EU member-state currently has the right to appoint a member to the court. The 15-strong Luxembourg-based body, which monitors the EU's annual spending, will grow to 25 once EU enlargement takes place in May.
However, an expert group commissioned by the Oireachtas Joint Committee on European Affairs has found that it will not be able to expand and remain effective.
"It isn't so much that it is broke, but rather that it is out of date. We need to move forward," said Prof Pat Barker, of Dublin City University, who chaired the expert group.
Five professional, internationally-recruited auditors should be chosen to run the court rather than political appointees. They should be overseen by a board representing all the member-states.
Ireland's current member is former Fianna Fail Minister and former Galway West TD Mrs Máire Geoghegan-Quinn, who has served in the post since 1999.
Questioned by Senator Anne Ormonde, Prof Barker said: "There is nothing in the report to suggest that the people who are there at the moment are incompetent."
However, she, along with a fellow group member Mr Moore McDowell, a lecturer at University College, Dublin, emphasised that auditing was becoming more technically complex by the day.
The expert group criticised the rule governing current appointments because it "'militates against assessing the competencies of the leadership team of the court as a package". Appointees have been "a mixed bag, with some highly energetic and very productive and effective members, and some who are perceived as less effective".
The chairman of the Oireachtas European Affairs Committee, Fine Gael TD Mr Gay Mitchell, will present the report to other EU parliaments during Ireland's EU presidency.
