Mr. David Moloney:

When we think of the role of a Secretary General, there are really two roles. There is the role of the Secretary General under the Public Service Management Acts, which is about running the Department and aligning what the Department does and what the agencies under it do with the priorities that the Government sets out. That is, as the Senator says, not a day-to-day role in the context of the Department of Health. There are 130,000 people employed in the HSE. That is not possible to direct in a microscopic way from the Department of Health. On the other hand, as I am sure the Senator has seen from time to time, there are challenges in the implementation of the health policy objectives of Government. The Secretary General, under the Public Service Management Act, has a key role in driving that in partnership with the HSE. As the Senator noted, the HSE has its own internal structure with a CEO and a board.

On the money, the Accounting Officer is about ensuring there are sufficient safeguards in place to ensure the probity and the value for money of expenditure. At a fundamental level, the Accounting Officer is responsible for the safeguarding of public funds and property under his or her control for the regularity and propriety of all the transactions in each annual appropriation account that is produced. He or she signs a statement of internal financial assurance in relation to that account and appears in front of the Committee of Public Accounts, to which he or she is answerable on a personal basis which he or she cannot delegate.

That is a long-standing responsibility for ensuring that money is properly spent. It dates back to the Exchequer and Audit Departments Act 1866, so it has been in place for a long time. The dual role of Secretary General and Accounting Officer comprises the influence and strategic policy direction under the Public Service Management Act and the responsibility, which cannot be delegated, for ensuring that systems are in place for the appropriate spending of public funds under the legislation relating to the Comptroller and Auditor General under which Secretaries General are accountable to the Committee of Public Accounts.