Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Thursday, 21 February 2019

Public Accounts Committee

Business of Committee

9:00 am

Photo of Alan KellyAlan Kelly (Tipperary, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I concur. I have a couple of observations. Obviously, these letters from Mr. Quinn and Mr. Watt are co-ordinated. We asked Mr. Quinn specific questions. He writes: "I refer to your letters of 8 and 12 February. I will respond to the issues raised therein in due course." It is a bit worrying that he has not responded already. He should be able to answer these questions pretty quickly. I would have thought they are pretty basic questions. Why has it taken so long?

I want to emphasise that as a committee we do not bring Ministers before us. I think that has only happened once. Dealing with this issue is definitely within our remit. Mr. Watt's letter reads:

I understand that you have also invited Mr. Paul Quinn, Chief Procurement Officer, Office of Government Procurement, which is a Division of my Department, to appear before the Committee of Public Accounts. As is normal, I will notify the Committee secretariat of the departmental officials attending with me in advance of the meeting.

To whom is it "normal"? It is not normal to us. When we invite certain Departments and Accounting Officers, they can bring whoever they want. On many occasions, however, we have asked specifically for certain officials. This is not just about the national children's hospital. The gentleman in question is head of the Office of Government Procurement, OGP. While the OGP is within the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, it is an office in its own right. Mr. Quinn is the most senior procurement officer in the country. We are concerned with issues about the children's hospital and how it was dealt with, but there is a wider issue concerning processes which we need to investigate. If what has happened with the children's hospital is in any way exemplary, there are wider process issues in the way major contracts are awarded, dealt with and managed.

Mr. Watt will appear before the committee. We must specifically insist that the head of the Office of Government Procurement appears as well. I do not mind whether he appears with Mr. Watt or in a separate session. In fact, appearing in a separate session might be a good thing. It is for this committee to decide which sessions we want people to attend, not for anybody else. We decide the format of our meetings.

In addition, as part of this discussion we need to hear from the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform and the Office of Government Procurement. We will obviously ask questions concerning the hospital, but we should also ask about the process that is followed with all other projects.

It is the full-time job of several officials in the Department of Health to manage the health Vote. I would also like those officials to attend, along with their Secretary General.

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