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

We know that. I know the Chairman is quoting the letter of the law but if that was the case, this committee would have 40 witnesses annually and nobody else. Would the work of this committee, including the positive outcomes for which it has been responsible in the past, have been possible if we had limited our output to 40 individual witnesses, namely, the 40 Accounting Officers for each Vote? With respect to the clerk to the committee, this question is for the Chairman. If we want to take a literal interpretation, that is fine. I asked a question of the clerk at the beginning but got no answer. How do we change these rules if we are not happy about them?