Alan Kelly (Tipperary, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I congratulate the Minister and his wife on their fantastic arrival and wish health and happiness to the three of them. The Minister referred to transparency. From a transparency point of view, I have asked a number of parliamentary questions and the Secretary General came back to me today, in fairness. However, I had to go to the Ceann Comhairle and directly to the Minister to get the information, which was pretty basic information. That should not happen. I was looking for dates of board meetings and steering group meetings. That is a pretty basic question to ask. I hope it is not let happen again. I get worried when Departments do not answer specific questions. I ask the officials to take that on board. A number of other questions have gone in from me and I expect them to be answered. Two weeks ago members of the hospital board were here at the committee. They were to come back with answers to a number of questions from several of us. I had a load of them. However, I have not got an iota from them. That is not acceptable two weeks later.

What happened between August and December is bugging me deeply. The Minister's Department was told on 24 August and the Minister was told in a submission on 27 August.