Mr. Tony O'Brien:

There is by statute one member of the directorate who is a member of the audit committee. The directorate by its nature comprises full-time HSE officials. That is how it is composed. The balance comprises persons considered by the directorate - which has the statutory responsibility to appoint the audit committee on my recommendation, as it happens - to have significant relevant experience. Given the particular issues that arise for a body in the public sector at the time when this committee was established - it has been refreshed, and there have been some significant changes since this particular report - I believed it was of benefit to have persons who had served as Accounting Officers in the public system, hence the couple of people who were formerly Secretaries General. However, the chair has no public sector experience and, as the Chairman has identified, there are a number of other members with very significant broadly based experience in the area of accounting, including a senior person from CRH. It was the balance of competencies and experience and a particular ability to understand the complexities that arise in public sector accounting and the role of the Comptroller and Auditor General and of this committee as distinct from normal private sector accounting. I also took the view, given the nature of some of the discussions that have to be undertaken, that it would be valuable to have a person nominated to the committee by the Secretary General of the Department of Health, which accounts for the individual who at that point was a Department of Health civil servant. That became even more important when the role of Accounting Officer moved from the HSE into the Department. The membership now is slightly different but is-----