Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Deputy Eoghan Murphy makes a valid point. The Committee of Public Accounts is constantly being asked by the Government to do more and I am conscious of the pressure that must put on our secretariat. We have been referenced in the Dáil and by Ministers regarding the body of work on NAMA and the section 38 agencies in terms of the Government's response. We have been told that part of the Government's response will be a thorough examination of various issues by the Committee of Public Accounts.

My fear, as I outlined at our last meeting, is that section 38 is a major issue. We are still only scratching the surface and we have a long way to go on it. More than €1 billion of taxpayers money is involved and we cannot have a situation where CEOs or chairpersons of section 38 agencies are sitting in their offices today hoping and praying that we run out of time or resources or move on to the next issue. We must be able to get to the bottom of issues thoroughly.

I am not sure it is an issue of an additional cost for the taxpayer. Surely we could do it with redeployment from within the public service, which is the responsibility of the Minister, Deputy Howlin. If we are to be constantly asked to undertake more work, we should, politely and respectfully but determinedly, ask the Minister to consider redeploying additional secretarial resources to this committee to protect the good name of the committee and allow it to do the job thoroughly.