David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

-----when it is best for Mr. Quinn to appear before the committee. I have no difficulty if he wants to come in on two occasions, if the Department and the board come before the committee again. If Mr. Quinn wants to come before the committee again as a board member that is fine but we were looking for him as the head of the Office of Government Procurement and somebody who also sat on the board. He is in a unique position.

The Chairman said we learned of this only last night. As members of the committee we have to prepare for meetings. A lot of the preparation was about the minutes relating to Mr. Quinn's involvement as a board member. Some of them relate to the joint committees on construction and finance, where he is cited, including on 30 August 2018. We cannot put any of the questions we prepared for him because he is not here and we learned of it at the very last minute.

We have an opening statement from Mr. Watt that runs to 18 pages and he does not mention the national children's hospital once. I accept it is not the basis on which he is coming before the committee, which is a much broader remit, but, at the same time, in the documentation he sent us on the major projects in Project Ireland 2040 the national children's hospital is the second major project listed. It is one of the major projects but Mr. Watt does not reference it once in his statement. This is a clear tactic by the Accounting Officer. I am putting it on the record that from my perspective there is an attempt by some at the top of the public service to kick back against the Committee of Public Accounts and we are seeing it more and more. Here is another example of it. We have to stand our ground as a committee. We do our best. We ask questions without fear or favour. There are a lot of issues and questions surrounding the spend on the national children's hospital and a number of Departments are involved in its oversight, including the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform.

The Accounting Officer for the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform is answerable to the Committee of Public Accounts in respect of these issues and we have reasonable questions we want to put. I do not want this to be a game that is being played by senior civil servants. The Accounting Officer is due to appear before the Joint Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach today. There was an attempt to play one committee off against the other through the media a number of weeks ago. That is not good enough. It is not a good way for an Accounting Officer to treat committees of the Oireachtas. That is my opinion, and mine only. I say that in the context of putting all of this on the record.

I will conclude, particularly as other members wish to comment. I am deeply disappointed that Mr. Quinn is not here. Up to last night, we were under the impression that he would be. We prepared for it and he should be here because he was invited to appear. It is not for Mr. Watt alone to decide who comes before us. He can bring whomever he wants from his Department but, from my perspective, if we make a specific request for someone to be here, then we should be able to expect that he or she will appear.