David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I would like to make another observation. The Department has committed to go back to seek further legal advice. Part of the problem here is that what we get in general terms is a synopsis of the legal advice, which is that these legal issues cannot be dealt with. The parameters of what can and cannot be discussed are never set out for us. We would then have a view that there might be some logic in not answering one set of questions, but no logic in answering another set of questions.

What we get is a blanket or a wall put between us, which is that the Department cannot answer any of the questions and, obviously, we are not privy to the legal advice the Department received.

I think there is a serious problem for the Committee of Public Accounts. The Department said it would come back to the committee once it got legal advice. There is a clear lack of accountability and this goes back in the Department for a long period of time. The Department of Justice and Equality has been under scrutiny for a culture of secrecy. If there is a culture of lack of transparency in any Department, that would worry me. Given what I have seen so far today, I think there is still such a culture in the Department of Finance and I am not happy with it. I am putting that on the record. Mr. Carville has defended his Department and said that is not the case. I am accepting what he said but I am giving him my opinion, which is my personal opinion and not that of the committee. I want to come back to the broader issue later. If Mr. Carville wants to comment, he can do so.