Marc MacSharry (Sligo-Leitrim, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Clearly, when we are talking about the biggest capital expenditure project in the State, it is probably a good educated guess that the person who is head of procurement for the State might have some value to add. We got a hint in previous correspondence that, in effect, this person would not be made available; it said that the Accounting Officer would decide. That is fine. He is within the rules. Can the Chairman, the clerk or whomever advise on who we should petition to change the rules? If we are examining public expenditure and there are people who are heads of particular functions such as public procurement and the Committee of Public Accounts, because of some euphemistic interpretation of the practice or the rules, is precluded, in a vexatious fashion, from talking to those people, that is wrong. I totally disagree with the Chairman's assessment to the effect that, because this person served on the board, it was a matter for the Department of Health and that we would be looking at that again. I am sorry. It is coincidental that the man happened to be on the board. The reality is that his function is public procurement and when we are looking at matters like tendering and so on, what that individual has to say adds value. If he does not have anything of value to add - I am sure Mr. Watt will be perfectly fluent in answering all those questions to do with tendering later - perhaps there is some other person who could be brought in. I do not care but I see this as proff of officialdom's continued annoyance with the Committee of Public Accounts in the context of its role in asking questions. If we are to put up with this kind of thing, we might as well declare an actual dictatorship - instead of the virtual one in which we are currently living - and abolish committees because the tail is wagging the dog.

I have read this opening statement and, frankly, the most political of political speeches by any Minister in the past, from whatever party, would barely be as good at blowing one's own trumpet in the context of policy. We are not interested necessarily in policy today, as Mr. Watt well knows. We are interested in the intricacies of why €1 billion of the public's money, which this time last year was not going to be needed, is now needed and all we have is an 18-page document from the chief officer responsible to this committee in which he manages not to mention the national children's hospital once. That is tantamount to giving a Harvey Smith to the committee. It is giving us the two fingers and stating, "We will do what we want, when we want". The document also lists a series of suggested improvements that will be made at some stage in the future but, as always, there is no accountability to the public.