Seán Fleming (Laois, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

This is a broader issue. With regard to the HSE sanction, all Secretaries General should see what Tony O'Brien did.

He said to every funded organisation that unless accounts were submitted on time, there would be a delay in funding until accounts were submitted. All those organisations came into line. What if the Department of Education and Skills were to do that with everybody under its auspices, instead of automatically giving money for the current year, not having received accounts for the previous two years? What if it told organisations it had no problem giving them their money, once they submitted their accounts? The HSE, which comprises one third of the public sector of Ireland, has achieved it substantially by just that simple statement. It is time the other two thirds of the public sector followed the HSE. Perhaps we will have to get specific on those issues.