Alan Kelly (Tipperary, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I agree with the previous speakers that we should park the political side of things. Even though our concerns are all real we must consider this matter from the committee's mandate. We need to consider the business case put forward for the unit, the costs associated with the unit, the budget that was given and the recruitment process. I have heard these statements about being cost-neutral. The people who have been pulled into this unit had to come from somewhere and obviously they had to be replaced. Down the line, is there a cost? I presume there is in some cases.

In terms of the campaign, it is a dangerous scenario if a line has been crossed, as has been referred to in both Chambers of the Oireachtas on numerous occasions over the past few weeks. We need to see if taxpayers' money has been appropriately utilised. We need to get into the detail of the campaign. We need to get into the detail of the individual areas of expenditure and why the moneys were allocated. We need to see whether there is precedent in terms of other campaigns that have led to this scenario. We need to ensure that all the relevant individuals are brought before this committee as soon as possible. It would mean, from a public accounting point of view, that we can get the details as to why this unit was set up, whether there was precedent, how people were recruited, how the total budget was allocated, how the campaigns were run and the manner in which the funding for the campaigns was administered.

As part of this process, not alone do we need to bring in the Accounting Officer, we also need to bring in key individuals in the Department of the Taoiseach where the unit is based. Furthermore, it may be the case, Chairman, where we need to bring in the outside agencies that run the campaign or campaigns as well. I make that suggestion because I am afraid that some people who are accounting for funding may be delineating down how funding was being administered to outside agencies, thus creating a vacuum whereby we could not get answers, which would be unacceptable. We should also discuss or reserve the right to call in outside agencies that work for the unit.