Alan Kelly (Tipperary, Labour) | Oireachtas source

Mr. Gleeson or Mr. O'Driscoll might want to address my questions. The latter stated that his Department had "core responsibility". That is the phrase that he used. At least, that is what I heard. We can check the record. If he did not, I can withdraw it. Maybe he did not, but that is what I heard. That is how it works because Mr. O'Driscoll is the Accounting Officer for Bord na gCon.

I am unsure as to how many people have confidence in Bord na gCon.

It is obvious that there will be a disclosure regarding Bord na gCon in the media in the near future. The dogs in the street - pardon the pun - know that the media have been all over this issue recently. I know this because I have received calls about it. I presume the fact that the accounts for 2015 are not up has set off alarm bells in the Department. That Mr. Gleeson only meets it once a year is alarming. That his Department currently only meets it once per quarter is alarming. At this stage the Department literally needs to be on top of it. I accept that the board has responsibilities and that the Department will not micro-manage an organisation, but the organisation receives an incredible amount of money and has many questions to answer. It is one which, to many, is making decisions on the future of the industry that are highly questionable. It is selling assets. One person has told me that it is proposing the sale of assets to cover for "questionable decision making," inefficiencies and high salaries for a core group. How can the Department stand over this? Does Mr. O'Driscoll agree that serious decisions such as the one taken recently on the sale of an asset should be suspended? As the overseer, the Department should suspend making such decisions until we find out what, in the name of God, is going on? The accounts for 2015 have not even published, yet the organisation is making decisions which will change the face of the industry. We do not know if these decisions are to cover up what has happened because we cannot even analyse the accounts for 2015.