Alan Kelly (Tipperary, Labour) | Oireachtas source

Mr. O'Driscoll has answered my questions and, for time reasons, I will move on. I am interested in the change of internal auditor which was made. I accept that the issue of protected disclosures is changing and evolving. We, including those of us in the committee, are learning collectively.

I will not beat around the bush. We all know which body we are talking about, and Deputy MacSharry made reference to it. The panel or company that is purported to be investigating the disclosure is an outside firm, which I will not name. I presume that its terms of reference were written by the person who was then the head of internal audit, but he was one of the recipients of the disclosure when it was made. I do not suggest anything against that person, but this needs to be examined because, as has been seen in other cases, terms of reference being partly or in any way written by somebody or some section that was party to the trail is not good practice. Will the Department consider that and reflect on the panel, the terms of reference and whether the matter needs to be re-examined? It would be good to examine because of the trail. I will leave the matter without seeking commentary from the witnesses but I ask them to reflect on it.

I also ask them to reflect on the issue of mediation, specifically in this case because it has been requested a number of times. There will be different opinions on it but, again, it might be that somebody needs to make contact. If that happens, perhaps there will be changes in some of the way in which the subject traverses the media and so on.

I understand that all the external firms that the Prison Service and the Department use are selected from a panel established by the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform.

I asked about costs over the past five years.