Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputies for all that they have said.

As Deputy Pearse Doherty acknowledged, I am in front of this committee regularly. I always do my best to answer any questions the Deputy puts to me even though, frequently, as is the Deputy's right, he may be dissatisfied with the answers that I give. This is my third committee appearance over the past four weeks in addition to the questions that I answer from all of the committee members in the Dáil Chamber.

As for the issue that is in front of us here, the committee members will be aware of the context of this in terms of the number of committee invitations that my Secretary General has now received. It is a challenge that I face too. I am regularly invited in front of many different committees but my view is that the committee to which I am accountable is this one and if I begin accepting invitations to other committees, it would cause challenges with the relationship that I have with this committee and would make it difficult to do the work that I am meant to do. We now find the Secretary General of my Department is dealing with the same matter because of the growing number of committees that want him to appear. This is the committee to which I and my Department are accountable.

I am willing to engage with the Chairman to see is there a way through this, which there is, to meet the needs that have been articulated here today.

I am not going to give a commitment to say I can do all this in ten minutes because there is an issue regarding the number of different committees to which Mr. Watt has now been invited, an issue I also have to deal with. My proposal is that I am willing to work with the committee to ensure we come up with a mutually agreeable way of ensuring that accountability is delivered because both myself and my Secretary General have a duty to do that. It is a matter for the committee members if they are willing to accept that proposal, which I offer in good faith, and still go ahead with these Estimates this morning. If they are not willing to do so and want this matter resolved before the Estimates are taken, my Secretary General and I will commit to coming back to the committee promptly to consider how to resolve this.