Alan Kelly (Tipperary, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I tabled a parliamentary question on this matter. The Department of Public Expenditure and Reform responded that the circular applies to its officials and, as Deputy Murphy just said, all other civil servants. Based on the factual statements - not opinion - we have had this morning on the National Paediatric Hospital Development Board, and all of the issues and consequences that will arise from this and our requests for people to revert to us or appear before us, there is a broader issue here. If we are meant to believe that the most senior procurement officer in the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform did not interpret this circular in the way in which it is set out, what is going on across the whole Civil Service and the various institutions and boards and how they are made up? What is going on, as Deputy Connolly said, as regards reporting lines and their role in protecting the public purse? This whole topic seems to be all over the place.