Seán Fleming (Laois, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

-----because some of the education and training board, ETBs, have not submitted accounts in two or three years? Those are public bodies. The organisations about which the witnesses are speaking are one step removed from public bodies. The HSE has achieved this because it writes the cheque. It holds the purse strings. Some of the third level institutions, the universities, are several years behind in their accounts, and they are public bodies. The witnesses have achieved a better level of ensuring the return of annual financial statements of all the organisations with which they deal, and they have the 2015 accounts completed. They are miles ahead with respect to the way in which many other sectors in the public sector operate. I will ask a soft question in this context. The witnesses have obviously learned how to deal with this issue. I am sure if this question was asked of them three years ago, they certainly would not have had that answer.