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

My Department and the Secretary General are accountable too. I have said that on a number of occasions. I said when I came into the committee today that the Secretary General has agreed to come before this committee but there are other Oireachtas committees that believe they are entitled to question him. I have found myself in this situation before. For example, when dealing with another health matter last year my committee was receiving invitations from the Department of Health to appear before it at the same time that this and other committees wanted to quiz me on the same matter. This is an issue for the Oireachtas to resolve.

On Deputy McGrath's point, it is unlikely that we will resolve the matter this morning, but there is a serious issue here. I reiterate that the Secretary General has said he will appear before this committee and I will find a way of resolving the issues raised today. This is not a matter of diaries. As busy as I and the Secretary General are, so too are members. This is an Oireachtas committee and we are dealing with a serious matter. I will find a way of dealing with this matter that works for all, but respect needs to go both ways. I will not act to the deadline that is being presented this morning by some members. I will resolve this matter. If my offer to do so does not lead to the committee being willing to consider the Estimates this morning, that is a matter for the committee, which we will have work through.

In response to Deputy Michael McGrath's question on whether I believe my Department is accountable to only this committee, the answer is "No". My Department also has a relationship with the Committee on Budgetary Oversight and my Secretary General as Accounting Officer has a relationship with the Committee of Public Accounts as well. There are three committees which either I or the Secretary General appear before. On the question regarding what are the consequences of not dealing with the Estimates this morning, under Standing Orders we do have some time before these Estimates have to be disposed of. In the statutory environment in regard to this matter, we do have the ability to spend up to four fifths of last year's expenditure before these Estimates need to be disposed of. I would have hoped that in terms of how we do our business and the fact that time has been scheduled to dispose of them this morning we can and should do so.

I do not want to add to the challenge that we have this morning. If my offer is not satisfactory to the committee, I will respect that. As I said, I will resolve this matter but the committee must also respect that I cannot respond to the deadline set this morning by the committee. To do so now would underplay the difficulty we have in regard to the multiple Oireachtas committees that want to play a role in the issue.