John McGuinness (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

When I asked my question, I expected Mr. Nolan's organisation to examine the cost versus the outcome. If changing was not cost effective, it would not be done. I would not expect the organisation to do it just for the sake of transparency. It is an issue of one system versus another, but one would like to see such an analysis being done.

Mr. Guiomard's organisation has had extensive correspondence with Ryanair. Most of the questions that would have been asked by this committee were asked by Mr. O'Leary. He has pursued the Commissioner for Aviation Regulation, CAR, for answers to his questions. He wrote to us on 20 March to seek guidance as to why we failed to take action on a quango that employed 18 people. This is the first time that the three regulators have appeared before the Committee of Public Accounts. We invited them so that we could get a sense of how each one's work, costs and so on impacted on the price the consumer pays for a service, etc. This has been a worthwhile exercise and members may wish to invite the regulators to appear separately, perhaps alongside their respective Departments so that an overall view could be outlined. Mr. O'Leary might be pleased to hear this.

Mr. O'Leary also suggested that the committee should indicate why we believed that "Irish airlines and passengers should fund this bureaucratic waste and incompetence". These are his words, not mine. I am interested in bureaucratic waste and incompetence, in that it is our job to ensure there is none. There must be efficiency, value for money and so on. Achieving these goals forms part of the process of cross-examining or conversing with witnesses about their costs, as does showing the public what those costs are. Some are substantial, for example, the €1 million in rent, the bonuses, the salaries, etc. These matters are of public interest. I hope that, by way of this exchange, we bring pressure to bear, reduce costs - each of the organisations before us is attempting to do this anyway - and ensure value for money. In this context-----