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

The second question arising from what Deputy Fleming said concerns the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, which is being represented today by Mr. Peter Brazel. Has he provided any paper trail in relation to approvals from 1995 to the HSE or the Department of Health? One of the issues concerns who approved the payments. If approval was sought, it was presumably sought in the days in question through the health boards and, after 2005, the HSE. Would any of these entities have written to the Department of Health or would they have written to the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform? If so, how much information has the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform given to the Department of Health on the specific question as to how many of the agencies wrote to ask for approval? It seems to me from various circulars that the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, the Department of Health or the HSE has written to the agencies stating departmental policy on issues surrounding salary payments. What is the role of the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform in this?