David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

That brings me on to the next point. I read the public spending code last night - all 147 pages of it - and it says on page 2 that "Nothing in the Public Spending Code should be taken as precluding Government or Ministers, under the delegated sanction arrangements set down by the Minister for Public Expenditure & Reform, from deciding to approve projects independent of the detailed application of the Public Spending Code." In other words, the public spending code and guidelines can be ignored if a Minister so decides. Why is that the case? What is the logic for that?