David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

-----and if RTÉ has a very robust relationship with the Department, as Ms O'Keeffe says, in terms of measuring performance and so forth, how is that when the Accounting Officer appeared before the committee and questions were put about how the €170 million was being spent, few of the questions were answered and, in fact, the replies were very vague? That is the reason we invited our guests to this meeting. Would it not be better if the director general of RTÉ was accountable to the Committee of Public Accounts? Is there a problem in the relationship with the Department? I accept that Ms O'Keeffe cannot speak for the performance of the Department's Accounting Officer but the view here is that it was quite weak and he was not in a position to answer very basic questions about how the €170 million was spent.