Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The thrust of the letter from the Secretary General is that he is prepared to attend before one Oireachtas committee and he is putting the onus on the Chairman and on to the other committee chairpersons to co-ordinate and agree which is the most appropriate committee for him to appear before. In my view if there is any question mark as to where he should attend, that is a question for the other committees, because this is the one that he is directly accountable to. The Minister may be smirking but that is the fact. He is the Accounting Officer and this is the committee on Finance, Public Expenditure, Reform, and Taoiseach. The Committee on Health would have less of a call on him, as I see it. The Secretary General of the Department of Health is accountable to the Committee on Health.

This is the Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach. The Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health would have less of a call on Mr. Watt as I see it because the Secretary General of the Department of Health is accountable to that committee. As I understand it, the Committee on Public Accounts deals with historical expenditure based on Comptroller and Auditor General reports. We have a lot of experience at the top table here and this is the committee to which Mr. Watt is directly accountable. The thrust of his letter is that he will attend before one committee and that the committees should get together and agree on which committee that should be. That is how I interpret that letter. We also have to be honest as Members of Parliament that an element of competition has developed between Oireachtas committees. There is no doubt about that, and there should be better co-ordination. I do not know if that is a matter dealt with at the level of chairpersons at the meetings of chairpersons of committees. There should be better co-ordination and no race or competition when we are dealing with issues of such importance.

The question mark in regard to Mr. Watt's attendance before a committee does not, in my view, relate to this committee because he is directly accountable to this committee. I think we should try to deal with these Estimates, if we can. There is a lot of cost incurred in getting all of the witnesses here today and their time and our time is valuable but we also need to resolve this issue. I do not think we should do that in a public forum. I think we should adjourn and discuss the matter in private session and try to find a resolution. First, I would like to know from the Minister in public session if it is the position of his Department that the Secretary General should only attend before one Oireachtas committee and, second, what are the consequences, as he sees them, of this committee not disposing of the Estimates today?