Mr. Seamus McCarthy:

The Deputies may be at cross purposes here. The witness did not appear before the Committee of Public Accounts. He appeared before the Committee on Employment Affairs and Social Protection. A report of that committee is being referred to here. My recollection is that the correspondent presented to the committee in October 2019. The Department and the Social Welfare Appeals Office appeared before the committee in November. The committee may have been working on a report but that would have lapsed on the dissolution of the previous Dáil. As such there will not be a report from that process of engagement.

On another point, the previous Committee of Public Accounts dealt with the chapter relating to inspections which I published in September 2018. There was a periodic report of the previous committee on that chapter and the hearing addressed by the Department. The Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform issued a response to the periodic report. That ministerial minute was issued in May 2019. Some actions were indicated on which there may be progress. Perhaps when the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection and Revenue are before the committee they can give an update on those matters.