Mr. Niall Ó Donnchú:

The purpose of head 23 is to clarify the directors' accountability to the Committee of Public Accounts. It underlines the directors' accountability to the Oireachtas, and in tandem with the accountability there is an obligation on the director not to question or express an opinion on the merits of any policy of the Government or a Minister of the Government on the merits or demerits of the objective of such a policy. The provision is not unusual and has appeared in a number of recent pieces of legislation such as the 2014 Act governing the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission, the Competition and Consumer Protection Agency Act 2014 and the Education and Training Boards Act 2013. I reassure members that there is no intention to subject a director to a standard that is different to the CEOs of other organisations appearing before Oireachtas committees. There is always a full and frank exchange of views between the directors of institutions and the Department. Such ongoing dialogue is essential to the way we conduct our business. Without it propositions such as the one before us do not pass the experience and operational test, which is crucial in terms of what informs legislation and what is taken into consideration. I hope that clarifies the issue.

That is what this exercise is all about in terms of pre-legislative scrutiny. We have an open mind when it comes to making sure that as civil servants making an input into the legislation we get feedback and get it right in so far as is foreseeable.