Alan Kelly (Tipperary, Labour) | Oireachtas source

It is a disgrace that the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform has refused the invitation to come here. It obviously did not wish to come before the committee to explain its role. We have spoken in private session and are unanimous as a committee in our requirement for the Department to come before us. The clerk should write to the Department in the strongest terms to tell it that its behaviour is unacceptable. The Department has a huge responsibility - ultimately it is the national paymaster, and we expect its officials to come before the committee, on their own, in the near future. By absenting itself from this process and not explaining its role, it is trying to be a secondary decision maker separate from the HSE and the Department of Health. Its attitude and the manner in which the Department has refused to come here, and without explanation, is completely unacceptable and this committee will not tolerate it.