Cormac Devlin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

As a member of the committee, I take exception to what the Chairman said about him as Chairman and other committees not having to jostle over certain issues. I think the Committee of Public Accounts does trump a number of committees. They may decide they want to discuss certain issues with certain witnesses but from the point of view of public accountability, we should have the privilege of inviting witnesses in and discussing certain issues irrespective of whether another committee also wants to do that because we cut through the issue of whether it has a certain departmental aspect, be it health or education. We can still invite them in and it is important for this committee to retain the ability to do that. Standing Order 218 affects our ability to question those witnesses. Irrespective of whether any other committee has standing in the House to do that with that organisation, we should still be able to do that. I would not like us to lose that ability. I would like us to retain it and through the Chairman, I would like us to push for that more. As Deputy Catherine Murphy said, of all committees, this committee needs to ensure that Standing Order 218 has a better re-balancing for committee members.