John McGuinness (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister, Deputy Donohoe, and his officials.

An issue has arisen in relation to today's meeting and to the business of the committee. It arises from an invitation sent by the committee. It was the unanimous view that the Secretary General should appear before the committee. We sent an invitation and set out a number of dates that would be convenient for members. There were five or six dates given. The letter of response stated basically that the Secretary General had agreed to appear at the Committee of Public Accounts because he had received four invitations. Deputy Pearse Doherty then wrote to the members of the committee requesting that we would not deal with the Government business of today but would suspend the meeting until such time as we had clarification as to the attendance of Mr. Watt at this committee. On 20 February, this letter arrived setting out that Mr. Watt will attend but that I would have to confirm with the Chairs of the other committees as to which is the relevant one.

We had a discussion on it before the Minister came in because it is a matter that was going to arise. It is felt by the members, in respect of Deputy Pearse Doherty's letter that Mr. Watt should attend, part of this committee's brief is to examine his Department and the Department of Finance. That is where we stand. We want to put it to the Minister-----