Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am sorry, it is the Accounting Officer. It would be very helpful to have Mr. Quinn appear. As it stands, however, we need to address those questions to the Accounting Officer today. I think it would have made sense to have Mr. Quinn here. He is particularly important. As has been stated, he has communicated using the headed paper of the Office of Government Procurement where his title is given as the Chief Procurement Officer. Mr. Quinn also sat on the financial sub-committee, as well as the procurement sub-committee of the board of the national children's hospital. I accept the remit of this committee and that it has to be the Accounting Officer who appears before us according to the rules. The Chair has a duty to lay that out as he has done. How we can see if the governance is working, within that restriction, is the question.

The nominee of the State had a particular role on that committee. He stated that he was there in a personal capacity but he actually had a particular role to report back. He set that out and I thank him for doing that. He set out on 25 February the circumstances within which he would have to go back to his Minister in that situation. I refer to where there were serious weaknesses in controls or a strategic or reputational risk etc. We know there was a serious reputational risk. It would be helpful, therefore, to have Mr. Quinn here today. It will be interesting to see how the Accounting Officer can deal with these questions without having Mr. Quinn. I think we should proceed with the meeting and find out how Mr. Watt can deal with the obvious gaps.